Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Information Overload is the Bane of my Life


My daily struggle is to understand what is important, to my situation, in the constant barrage of information on the Internet.  


What can and should be ignored?  

Is my purpose to seek distraction, novelty and entertainment? 

Or is the goal and purpose to my Net Surfing to gain valuable knowledge?  

What do I hope to accomplish?



“There are things that attract human attention, and there is often a huge gap between what is important and what is attractive and interesting."

Yuval Noah Harari   

  

And Donald Trump has not helped make being informed easy with all his mixed messages.


“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.”

― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Monday, September 17, 2012

Practice Patience for Patience is the beginning of Mindfulness



Patience is the companion of wisdom. 
-- Saint Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD)


There art two cardinal sins from which all others spring: Impatience and Laziness. 
-- Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924)
 
 
 
 
 
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent. 
- Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727)
 

Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind. 
-- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)


Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew. 
-- Saint Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622)
 
 
 
 
Patience is the best remedy for every trouble. 
- Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC - 184 BC), Rudens
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. 
- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
 
 
 
A high hope for a low heaven: God grant us patience! 
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Love's Labour's Lost, Act I, sc. 1
 
 
 
A very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience
-William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Coriolanus, Act II, sc. 1
 
 
 
Had it pleas'd heaven to try me with affliction... I should have found in some place of my soul a drop of patience. 
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Othello, Act IV, sc. 2
 
 
How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees? 
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Othello, Act II, sc. 3
 
 
How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees. 
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
 
 
I do oppose my patience to his fury, and am arm'd to suffer with a quietness of spirit, the very tyranny and rage of his. 
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, sc. 1
 
 
 
 
 
 
Patience is sottish, and impatience does become a dog that's mad
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV, sc. 15
 
 
Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod.
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Henry V, Act II, sc. 1
 
 
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper sprinkle cool patience. 
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Hamlet, Act III, sc. 4
 
 

Patience, my lord. Why, 'tis the soul of peace.
Of all the virtues 'tis near'st kin to heaven.
It makes men look like gods; the best of men
That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer,
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit,
The first true gentleman that ever breath'd.

- Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton
The Honest Whore Part One, act V scene II
 
 
Patience is the ballast of the soul, that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms: and he, that will venture out without this to make him sail even and steady will certainly make shipwreck, and drown himself; first, in the cares and sorrows of this world; and, then, in perdition.
- Ezekiel Hopkins,  Death disarmed of it Sting Of Patience under Afflictions.
 
 
Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility; Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride; she bridles the tongue, refrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom; Patience produces unity in the church, loyalty in the State, harmony in families and societies; she comforts the poor and moderates the rich; she makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved by calumny and reproach; she teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those whom we have injured; she delights the faithful, and invites the unbelieving; she adorns the woman, and approves the man; is loved in a child, praised in a young man, admired in an old man; she is beautiful in either sex and every age.
- Bishop Horne, Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions Patience Portrayed




Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim.
Have patience and endure; this unhappiness will one day be beneficial.
- Ovid, Amorum (16 BC), III. 11. 7.


Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.
Persevere and preserve yourselves for better circumstances.
Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC), I. 207.

Superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.
Every misfortune is to be subdued by patience.Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC), V. 710.



Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains.
- William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude In Reflections And Maxims (1682) no. 234.




Font plus que force ni que rage.
By time and toil we sever
What strength and rage could never.
Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, II. 11.



Rule by patience, Laughing Water!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha (1855), Part X. Hiawatha's Wooing.


Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life, Stanza 9.


All things come round to him who will but wait.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, The Student's Tale, Part I.


Endurance is the crowning quality,
And patience all the passion of great hearts.
James Russell Lowell, Columbus, line 241.


Sua quisque exempla debet æquo animo pati.
Every one ought to bear patiently the results of his own conduct.
Phaedrus, Fables, I. 26. 12.


La patience est amère, mais son fruit est doux.
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau.


Nihil tam acerbum est in quo non æquus animus solatium inveniat.
There is nothing so disagreeable, that a patient mind can not find some solace for it.
Seneca, De Animi Tranquilitate, X.


Furor fit læsa sæpius patientia.
Patience, when too often outraged, is converted into madness.
-- Syrus, Maxims. 289.



La patience est l'art d'espérer.
Patience is the art of hoping.
-- Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues, Réflexions, CCLI.




It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is often simple patience.
- Horace Bushnell, p. 443.


Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear;
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
- George Croly, p. 444.



Patience! why, it is the soul of peace; of all the virtues it is nearest kin to heaven; it makes men look like gods. The best of men that ever wore earth about Him was a Sufferer,— a soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit; the first true gentleman that ever breathed.
- Thomas Decker, p. 443.



Patience is enduring love; experience is perfecting love; and hope is exulting love.
- Alexander Dickson, p. 442.



It is easy finding reasons why other folks should be patient.
- George Eliot, p. 443.



Patience is the ballast of the soul that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms.
- Bishop Hopkins, p. 442.



Dispose thyself to patience rather than to comfort, and to the bearing of the cross rather than to gladness.
- Thomas à Kempis, p. 442.



The holier one is, the more forbearing and loving he is; the more tender and patient and anxious to help others in every way. Think how forbearing and loving Christ is when we do wrong; and there we are to be like Him.
- Arthur Henry Kenney, p. 444.



Therefore, let us be patient, patient; and let God our Father teach His own lesson, His own way. Let us try to learn it well and quickly; but do not let us fancy that He will ring the school-bell, and send us to play before our lesson is learnt.
- Charles Kingsley, p. 443.



Be patient, my friends; time rolls rapidly away; our longing has its end. The hour will strike, who knows how soon?— when the maternal lap of everlasting Love shall be opened to us, and the full peace of God breathe around us from the palmy summits of Eden.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher, p. 613.



When I am about my work, sometimes called unexpectedly and suddenly from one thing to another, I whisper in my heart, " Lord, help me to be patient, help me to remember, and help me to be faithful. Lord, enable me to do all for Christ's sake, and to go forward, leaning on the bosom of His infinite grace."
-- Mary Lyon, p. 444.


We are waiting, Master, waiting,
Wayworn, pressed with toils and strife;
Waiting, hoping, watching, praying,
Till we reach the gates of life.
-- Ray Palmer, p. 613.


Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the time, and not be discouraged at the rests. If we say sadly to ourselves, "There is no music in a rest," let us not forget " there is the making of music in it." The making of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. How patiently God works to teach us! How long He waits for us to learn the lesson!
- John Ruskin, p. 443.


Show yourself a Christian by suffering without murmuring. In patience possess your soul — they lose nothing who gain Christ.
- Samuel Rutherford, p. 444.



The disciples of a patient Saviour should be patient themselves.
- Charles Spurgeon, p. 442.



How poor are they that have not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
-- William Shakespeare, Othello (c. 1603), Act II, scene 3, line 376.


Had it pleas'd heaven
To try me with affliction * * *
I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience.
-- William Shakespeare, Othello (c. 1603), Act IV, scene 2, line 47.


Like Patience gazing on kings' graves, and smiling
Extremity out of act.
- William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (c. 1607-08), Act V, scene 1, line 139.


She sat like patience on a monument
Smiling at grief.
- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (c. 1601-02), Act II, scene 4, line 117.


He that will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the grinding.
- William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida Act I, scene i.


Patience is the art of hoping.
- Marquis De Vauvenargues, Reflections and Maxims (1746) no. 251.


Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.
Persevere and preserve yourselves for better circumstances.
-- Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC), I. 207.


Superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.
Every misfortune is to be subdued by patience.
-- Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC), V. 710.



With strength and patience all his grievous loads are borne,
And from the world's rose-bed he only asks a thorn.
- William R. Alger, Oriental Poetry, Mussud's Praise of the Camel.


I worked with patience which means almost power.
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (1856), Book III, line 205.


And I must bear
What is ordained with patience, being aware
Necessity doth front the universe
With an invincible gesture.
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Prometheus Bound.



But there are times when patience proves at fault.
- Robert Browning, Paracelsus, scene 3.



There is however a limit, at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
- Edmund Burke, Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation.



Thus with hir fader for a certeyn space
Dwelleth this flour of wyfly pacience,
That neither by hir wordes ne hir face
Biforn the folk, ne eek in her absence,
Ne shewed she that hir was doon offence.
- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Clerkes Tale, V, line 13,254.


Patience is sorrow's salve.
- Charles Churchill, Prophecy of Famine, line 363.


Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.
- Benjamin Disraeli, Contarini Fleming, Part IV, Chapter V.


But the waiting time, my brothers,
Is the hardest time of all.
- Sarah Doudney, Psalms of Life, The Hardest Time of All.


The worst speak something good; if all want sense,
God takes a text, and preacheth patience.
- George Herbert, The Church Porch, Stanza 72.


Durum! sed levius fit patientia
Quicquid corrigere est nefas.
It is hard! But what can not be removed, becomes lighter through patience.
- Horace, Carmina, I. 24. 19.


For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.
- Samuel Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes, line 352.









Source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patience





Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Quotes



The ego will not go with laughter or caresses. It must be chased in sorrow and drowned in tears
. - A Persian expression


In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher. - Dalai Lama


 
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 




Monday, June 25, 2012

Robbie Burns: To A Mouse

A sculpture of a mouse in the garden of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway
 
 
TO A MOUSE
ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH, NOVEMBER, 1785
by: Robert Burns (1759-1796)
      I
       
      EE, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
      Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
      Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
      Wi' bickering brattle!
      I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,
      Wi' murd'ring pattle!
       
      II
       
      I'm truly sorry man's dominion
      Has broken Nature's social union,
      An' justifies that ill opinion
      Which makes thee startle
      At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
      An' fellow-mortal!
       
      III
       
      I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
      What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
      A daimen-icker in a thrave
      'S a sma' request;
      I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
      And never miss't!
       
      IV
       
      Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
      Its silly wa's the win's are strewin!
      An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
      O' foggage green!
      An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
      Baith snell an' keen!
       
      V
       
      Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
      An' weary winter comin fast,
      An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
      Thou thought to dwell,
      Till crash! the cruel coulter past
      Out thro' thy cell.
       
      VI
       
      That wee bit heap o' leaves an stibble,
      Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
      Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
      But house or hald,
      To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
      An' cranreuch cauld!
       
      VII
       
      But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
      In proving foresight may be vain:
      The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
      Gang aft a-gley,
      An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
      For promis'd joy!
       
      VIII
       
      Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!
      The present only toucheth thee:
      But och! I backward cast my e'e,
      On prospects drear!
      An' forward, tho' I cannot see,
      I guess an' fear!
"To a Mouse" is reprinted from English Poems. Ed. Edward Chauncey Baldwin & Harry G. Paul. New York: American Book Company, 1908.

 Source:
 http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/to_a_mouse.html



 Portrait of Robert Burns 
 Robert Burns by Alexander Nasmyth
(By permission of the National Galleries of Scotland) 


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Nikos Kazantzakis quotes of a Religious Nature


“The canary began to sing again. The sun had struck it, and its throat and tiny breast had filled with song. Francis gazed at it for a long time, not speaking, his mouth hanging half opened, his eyes dimmed with tears.
 The canary is like man's soul," he whispered finally. "It sees bars round it, but instead if despairing, it sings. It sings, and wait and see, Brother Leo: one day its song shall break the bars.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis


“When an almond tree became covered with blossoms in the heart of winter, all the trees around it began to jeer. 'What vanity,' they screamed, 'what insolence! Just think, it believes it can bring spring in this way!' The flowers of the almond tree blushed for shame. 'Forgive me, my sisters,' said the tree. 'I swear I did not want to blossom, but suddenly I felt a warm springtime breeze in my heart.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Saint Francis


“Overdraw me Lord, and who cares if I break!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ


“We are not men, to have need of another, an eternal life; we are women, and for us one moment with man we love is everlasting Paradise, one moment far from the man we love is everlasting hell. It is here on earth that we women love out eternity”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ



“My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ


“Truly, everything in this world depended on time. Time ripened all. If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit. Then you did not fear death. If you did not have time, you perished.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ


“I say one thing, you write another, and those who read you understand still something else! I say: cross, death, kingdom of heaven, God...and what do you understand? Each of you attaches his own suffering, interests and desires to each of these sacred words, and my words disappear, my soul is lost. I can't stand it any longer!”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ



“When everyone drowns and I'm the only one to escape, God is protecting me. When everyone else is saved and I'm the only one to drown, God is protecting me then too.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ



“You will, Judas, my brother. God will give you the strength, as much as you lack, because it is necessary—it is necessary for me to be killed and for you to betray me. We two must save the world. Help me."
Judas bowed his head. After a moment he asked, "If you had to betray your master, would you do it?"
Jesus reflected for a long time. Finally he said, "No, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to. That is why God pitied me and gave me the easier task: to be crucified.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ




Kazantzakis more quotes



“Discipline is the highest of all virtues. Only so may strength and desire be counterbalanced and the endeavors of man bear fruit.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, The Rock Garden





“Freedom was my first great desire. The second, which remains hidden within me to this day, tormenting me, was the desire for sanctity. Hero together with saint: such is mankind's supreme model.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco



“Reach what you cannot”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco



“I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me of God.' And the almond tree blossomed.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco


“All my life one of my greatest desires has been to travel-to see and touch unknown countries, to swim in unknown seas, to circle the globe, observing new lands, seas, people, and ideas with insatiable appetite, to see everything for the first time and for the last time, casting a slow, prolonged glance, then to close my eyes and feel the riches deposit themselves inside me calmly or stormily according to their pleasure, until time passes them at last through its fine sieve, straining the quintessence out of all the joys and sorrows.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco




“Man is able, and has the duty, to reach the furthest point on the road he has chosen. Only by means of hope can we attain what is beyond hope.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco





Nikos Kazantzakis quotes


“What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams.”

― Nikos Kazantzakis


“My entire soul is a cry, and all my work is a commentary on that cry.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis



“Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.” 
― Nikos Kazantzakis


Yes, the purpose of earth is not life, it is not man, earth has existed without these, and it will live on without them. They are but the ephemeral sparks of its violent whirling.
Let us unite, let us hold each other tightly, let us merge our hearts, let us create –so long as the warmth of this earth endures, so long as no earthquakes, cataclysms, icebergs or comets come to destroy us – let us create for earth a brain and a heart, let us give a human meaning to the superhuman struggle. ”
― Nikos Kazantzakis



“With the passage of days in this godly isolation [desert], my heart grew calm. It seemed to fill with answers. I did not ask questions any more; I was certain. Everything - where we came from, where we are going, what our purpose is on earth - struck me as extremely sure and simple in this God-trodden isolation. Little by little my blood took on the godly rhythm. Matins, Divine Liturgy, vespers, psalmodies, the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening, the constellations suspended like chandeliers each night over the monastery: all came and went, came and went in obedience to eternal laws, and drew the blood of man into the same placid rhythm. I saw the world as a tree, a gigantic poplar, and myself as a green leaf clinging to a branch with my slender stalk. When God's wind blew, I hopped and danced, together with the entire tree.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis


“Beauty is merciless. You do not look at it, it looks at you and does not forgive.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis



“Throughout my life my greatest benefactors have been my travels and my dreams. Very few men, living or dead, have helped me in my struggles.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis




“We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis


“Let your youth have free reign, it won't come again, so be bold and no repenting.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis



“You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis



“True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their
own.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis



“I hope nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis


“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.” 
― Nikos Kazantzakis


“Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis


“Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis


“How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. . . . All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis