Books I read & recommend
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WE ARE THE ESSENCE OF OUR SELF:
AN ETERNAL SOURCE OF LIGHT.
KINDNESS IS UNDERSTANDING.
LOVING BEGETS LIFE.
WE CAUSE WHAT WE PERCEIVE.
WE ARE BEINGS FAR FROM HOME.
WE TRAVEL IN THE ENDLESS NOW:
TOGETHER AND ALONE.
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Painting by John LaFarge, American (1835- 1910)
He cannot.
Or can such an one account death fearful?
No indeed.
Then the cowardly and mean nature has no part in true philosophy?
Certainly not.
Or again: can he who is harmoniously constituted, who is not covetous or mean, or a boaster, or a coward-can he, I say, ever be unjust or hard in his dealings?
Impossible.
Then you will soon observe whether a man is just and gentle, or rude and unsociable; these are the signs which distinguish even in youth the philosophical nature from the unphilosophical. ”
Plato, THE REPUBLIC, 360 BCE
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It’s not easy to say what I really think about Life in this Universe. It’s complicated. It’s a Love / Hate relationship. The random, unpredictable drama of it is entertaining, amusing and terrifying. I love the sensual scenery on Earth and the impassioned sensations of sex. I hate pain, lies, stupidity and injustice. The wonder and mystery of an endlessly starry night is a facade of pretended majesty. The sounds of soft, subtle jazz are sublime. A trusted companion is comforting. Ice cream is irresistible. The blissful buzz of booze is bemusing. I am enamored with the innocent insouciance of animals. Life Forms are reflections of The Divine Essence of Life.
Yet, I detest greed and the callous brutality of possessions. I would love to love this universe. But, it’s not my universe. It’s not the universe I would create if I could create my own. It is full of recycled pain and dying and death. Agony, mystery and ignorance are everywhere. There are no real angels or faeries here. No honor. No Integrity. No Justice. No Mercy. No Poetic Magic. This universe in impassive and intolerant of nonsensically nonsequitur nonsense.
This universe is frozen, dark, impartial vacuum dotted with incandescent infernos of light-emitting balls of eternally burning gases! Sprinkled, intermittently, throughout are gaseous clouds of radioactive poison and icy balls of rock. It swirls and grows relentlessly in an eternally timeless now of revolving, random rotation. It is not me. It is not mine. I can’t own it and I don’t want it. Yet, I can’t leave it behind! (as far as I know, I’m stuck here….)
Does it have a purpose and destiny? Does it know that I exist? Does it care?
No. It does not.
I am a Nothingness of Thought. I’m not from here. I didn’t begin anywhere. I am not a Thing. I Am Endlessly Emitting Emotions, Ideas, Compassion and Creative Notions.
I am Universes Apart from this universe. Universes apart.
In My Own Universe I Am what I dream: Sensual, Dramatic, Comic. I AM. Motionless. Curious. Playful. Joyful. Pleased with my Own Existence. I Create. I Change. I Destroy, or not, at My Whim. I Am My Universe in My Universe. You’re welcome to share it with me, as long as you Admire My Creations. I’d like to Admire Yours too. More than anything, I don’t like being Alone and Bored.
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— Lawrence R. Spencer. Saturday Night Musing. November 2012.
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The lotus is an ancient symbol in Asian culture. Often used as an example of divine beauty and purity. Its unfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul. The growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise. In Buddhist symbolism the lotus is symbolic of purity of the body, speech, and mind as while rooted in the mud, its flowers blossom on long stalks as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. It is also symbolic of detachment as drops of water easily slide off its petals.
The lotus in both Egypt and India symbolizes the union of the four elements; earth, air, fire, and water. The roots are in the earth, it grows in and by means of water, its leaves are nourished by air, and it blooms through the power of the sun’s fire. The lotus is therefore the perfection of the fourfold order of the natural world. The growth of a new flower directly from the earth-bound original may be interpreted as a symbol of transcendence as found in Indian philosophy: a spiritual emergence of a higher world directly from our physical manifestation.
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FROM THE PREFACES TO THE BOOK 1001 THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU’RE DEAD: A DEAD PERSON’S GUIDE TO LIVING —
“I wonder if I could have been here before? As I drive up the Roman road the theater seems familiar. Perhaps I headed a legion up that same white road… I passed a chateau in ruins which I possibly helped escalade in the Middle Ages. There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, We are, and We will be.”
— General George S. Patton
“Eternity is not something that begins after you’re dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now.”
— Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“After your death you will be what you were before your birth.”
— Arthur Schopenhauer
“I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.”
— Benjamin Franklin
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange eons even Death may die.”
— H.P. Lovecraft
