Don't Forget, Christianity was the Chicken and Not the Egg

Christianity was the chicken and not the egg.

~ A little food for thought.

The End of the Tour and David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace: Well, I think being shy basically means being self-absorbed to the extent that it makes it difficult to be around other people.
~ The End of the Tour (film)

Favorite Bible Quotes

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 13:34-35

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:20-21

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

John 8:7

At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 

John 14:20

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

John 14:12

My soul doth magnify the Lord. 

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Luke 1:46-47

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the light. 

John 12:36

What we do in life echoes in eternity - Maximus from Gladiator

This quote from the film Gladiator was borrowed from Marcus Aurelius (who is also portrayed in the film).

"What we do now echoes in eternity."

More quotes to inspire living life to the fullest:

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
~ Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe than time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important how we lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal.
~ Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: Generations

The Secret to Having it All

The secret to having it all....
is knowing you already do.

Date the person who makes your world

Don't date the most beautiful person in the world, date the person who makes your world the most beautiful.

Michael Krasny, an inspirational agnostic

"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."
- Abraham Lincoln.

From his longer NPR interview, Krasny says:

....have the courage to say to your children, 'I don't know' and let them find their own path, whatever that may be.

Nowadays many of the atheists are simply quite militant about their atheism and pretty certain about it as well.


---

http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/atheologies/3833/spiritual_envy%3A_michael_krasny%E2%80%99s_agnostic_quest/

And even in Stephen Hawking’s new book, he thinks he’s found answers now—he’s moved in a different direction, toward an atheism that was not clear in his previous work. It’s a jump, for maybe one of the greatest minds of our time. But I can’t continue or discontinue grappling with questions that are simply unanswerable. Okay, there was a Big Bang, but what was before it? There are mysteries on the earth that are impenetrable to us, let alone beyond our planet. So why not just accept? My dad used to say to me when I was a kid that sometimes you just have to say: I don’t know.

Something Else is More Important Than Fear

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
- Ambrose Redmoon

Olivia Wilde on Building Lasting Relationships

When Olivia Wilde was just 18 years old, she married Tao Ruspoli, a man 9 years her senior. "You're going to change as you grow older, and that messes up a lot of relationships," she says. But 8 years later, the two are still going strong. The key to long-lasting romance, Wilde says, is to accept that nothing stays the same. The best you can do is adjust along the way.

Ease Pressure

"Even in the beginning, we never put pressure on ourselves," she says. "We were, like, 'Maybe it'll last a week.' And therefore it's lasted years." She attributes much of that to a lack of jealousy on both their parts. When you actively look for things that might hurt a relationship, you turn minor issues into larger ones.

Do Your Own Thing

"Tao is great about saying, 'You go. Have fun. I'm staying home.' It's so important to have that independence," she says. You know it yourself: Everyone needs evenings of their own. If a woman feels anchored to a man's plans, she may start to resent him for the fun she's worried she's missing. Not everything has to be a couples' event.

Hold Your Tongue

Of course it's important to speak up if you feel hurt. But know the difference between a real problem and your own insecurity, Wilde says—and sort your feelings out in your mind before rushing to express them. "I think what ruins relationships and causes most fights is insecurity," Wilde says. "So be secure. It can be hard to force, but you need inner peace if you want peace around you."

via: Olivia Wilde interview in Men's Health Magazine, from the January 2011 issue.

Spiritual Reflections

All of these ideas and reflections were taken from a Unity service on October 17, 2010.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

When we have experiences, we ought to remember that this is for me (not against me).

Spirituality: Meaning. Value. Purpose.

We are here to be real.

Ho'oponopono

I love you.
I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.

One of Our Last Fine Days

this may be
one of our last fine days
before winter
with her chills and dreariness
claims the dreams
of warm weather folk

Winter's bleak and
unflinching grip
will not have me this season

As a boy,
winter did not take the toll
that it does on me now
I found joy
in snowballs, forts
snowmen.

Winter did not take the toll
that it does on me now.
With rosy red ears
and a runny nose
I still played, despite the cold
Now winter affords only
moments of relief
For sights of sunshine and
melting snow can ease my grief

This season may hold hope
even as gray skies take hold
there may be a candle
to sway the dark, the desolate.
For the warmth of one,
intimate progression
can out-wage the cold and dark.

Written on October 12th, 2010. A sunny fall day in Montana before winter sets in.

Airports are an interesting place

Airports are an interesting place because we are put into a few hours of inescapable limbo. It's a deluge of tension, anticipation, and ultimately, boredom.

If you're a good man, don't fear a soul x-ray

If you're a good man, you have nothing to fear from the woman who can see right through you.

The Job of the Artist - An Inspirational Quote

The job of the artist is to uplift man's soul.
- From the film Local Color.

Is staying up late on the internet or watching TV worth it?

It's usually relaxing to watch Netflix streaming late at night (after midnight) or to just surf the internet, because it's completely quiet with no distractions.

The dilemma is that at some point you'll come to the realization that all this time spent watching TV shows, movies, or surfing the net really adds up to nothing. I'm a photographer and a writer, so if I want to be up late, I ought to be editing photos or writing something.

Where do all the hours of television go? They become hours, even days, of wasted time. Time that could have been spent sleeping or doing something creative. Time that could have gone towards making the next day more productive by getting up earlier.

The only way to really break the cycle is to recognize when you're getting into a cycle of staying up wasting time. Set limits and stick to them. "Nothing good happens after 2 a.m." The other most effective way to break the cycle is to have a set wake-up time. Don't allow yourself to get up after 10 am, even on weekends, if possible.

What Makes a Day Worthwhile

You can work hard the entire day, then sit in self reflection just before bedtime and realize that there must be something more to the day than just hard work to make a day worthwhile.

What constitutes a worthwhile day?

Discovering something about yourself that you never realized. . . spending a quality day with a friend. . .exploring unfamiliar places. . .finally facing a fear. . .

Time is only against us if we don't make time for the things that really matter.

I chastise my younger brother for always resorting to social media sites and his portable video games to pass time. Maybe I chastise him because I, myself, need to spend more time away from my desk, out with my friends--out in the world. Deep down it probably bothers me that he's perfectly content passing his time that way, just as I was at his age.

When in doubt, facing a dilemma of how to spend your last hours before bed, or what to do with an empty Saturday or Sunday afternoon, just remember:

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
- Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

Keep your true self in moments of vulnerability

We all find ourselves in vulnerable places at times. The important thing is to hold onto your true self and never let go. Abandoning who you really are is the surest way to create a life not worth living.

Walking in the Rain

A walk in the rain awakens the soul.


Rain has the power to remind the soul that there is something alive behind tired eyes.
As I felt the raindrops tingle on my open palms, a moment of peace stole me away from the world.