Category Archives: FREE ADVICE

Free Advice about Life, Universe and Other Stuff from Lawrence R. Spencer

...and other stuff, ART, FREE ADVICE, INSIDE THE BOOK, LIVES, POETIC NONSENSE, READING MATTER, UNIVERSES

A REAL HERO

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HONEST COWARDS

“An early description of the way contemporary culture is now full of re-creations and themed environments was provided by Umberto Eco.  In a brilliant essay, Eco saw that we create these realistic fabrications in an effort to come up with something that is better than real — a description that is true of virtually all fiction and culture, which gives us things that are more exciting, more beautiful, more inspiring, more terrifying, and generally more interesting than what we encounter in everyday life. In his description of Disney, Eco also saw that behind the facades lurks a sales pitch. Put these ideas together and you have a succinct characterization of the age, which is forever offering us something that seems better than real in order to sell us something.”  — Umberto Eco (born 5 January 1932 — ) is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist.

ART, FREE ADVICE, LIVES, POETIC NONSENSE

CONSPIRACY THEORY

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(painting © Frank Frazetta)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines conspiracy theory as “the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event”. It cites a 1909 article in The American Historical Review as the earliest usage example, although it also appears in journals as early as April 1870. The word “conspiracy” derives from the Latin con- (“with, together”) and spirare (“to breathe”).

FREE ADVICE, LIVES, READING MATTER

30 LESSONS LEARNED BY GANDHI

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Mahatma Gandhi needs no introduction. In India, his name is pronounced with the same sincere respect as the names of the saints. The whole world knows the man who led his country to independence from Britain back in 1947.

  1. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
  2. If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
  3. An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
  4. The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.
  5. The future depends on what you do today.
  6. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
  7. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
  8. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
  9. Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
  10. The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ’still small voice’ within me.
  11. The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
  12. It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
  13. A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
  14. ’Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.
  15. Find purpose, the means will follow.
  16. Live simply so that others may simply live.
  17. Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.
  18. It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
  19. The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
  20. An ounce of patience is worth more than a tonne of preaching.
  21. In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
  22. Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
  23. Where love is, there God is also.
  24. What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
  25. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
  26. A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
  27. A ’No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ’Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
  28. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
  29. ’True beauty lies in purity of the heart.
  30. You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
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MEDITATION IN FINITUDE

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meditation

François-Marie Arouet (French) 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.