Sunday, May 30, 2010

Courage


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without it we can't practice any other virtue with consistency.

Maya Angelou

Friday, May 28, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Culture of Peace


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

" . . . in the conflicts in the past 15 years, only 7.5% have ended with a military victory by one party over the other. the negotiation route, though long and difficult, is the one that prevails in 92% of the cases. The challenge is thus not being a skilful warrior but a skilful negotiator."

2008 Peace Process Yearbook, School for a Culture of Peace, Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Monday, May 24, 2010

Eyes of the unfeeling


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

A picture lives by companionship.  It dies by the same token.  It is therefore risky to send it out into the world.  How often it must be impared by the eyes of the unfeeling. 

Mark Rothko

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Language of God


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Never place a period where God has placed a comma.

The Language of God, God is Still Speaking, United Church of Christ media campaign

Friday, May 21, 2010

Life


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Life can never stop asserting its need to create itself, and life never stops searching for connections.

Margaret J. Wheatley, Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Awake


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

“Tell us what you got from enlightenment,” the seeker said. “Did you become divine?”
“No, not divine,” the holy one said.
“Did you become a saint?”
“Oh dear, no,” the holy one said.
“Then what did you become?” the seeker asked.
And the holy one answered, “I became awake.”

From Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and Its Meaning for You: Universal Spiritual Insights Distilled from Five Religious Traditions by Joan Chittister

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Beauty


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Today like every other day we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Rumi, The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Road


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Wanderer, the road is your
footsteps, nothing else;
wanderer, there is no path,
you lay down a path in walking.

Antonio Machado

Monday, May 17, 2010

The beginning


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.

Louise L’Amour

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Good for Something


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

Saturday, May 15, 2010

God in All Things


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw – and knew I saw – all things in God and God in all things.

Mechtild of Magdeburg

Friday, May 14, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Seeking


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; rather, seek what they sought.

Gautama Buddha

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Consciousness


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

A basic definition of consciousness is the mind’s capacity to observe the self in reality and to be thoughtful about our actions.

Christina Baldwin, Calling the Circle: The First and Future Culture

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Starting Point


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Any place we stop to rest must also serve as the platform from which we leave.

Catherine Bateson

Monday, May 10, 2010

'America, America'


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto
. . .
America:
let’s exchange gifts. Take your smuggled cigarettes
and give us potatoes.
Take James Bond’s golden pistol
and give us Marilyn Monroe’s giggle.
Take the heroin syringe under the tree
and give us vaccines.
Take your blueprints for model penitentiaries
and give us village homes. …

from 'America, America' by Saadi Youssef, Damascus, 20/8/1995 translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa, New Internationallist (May 2010)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Blessing


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

It is forbidden to taste of the pleasures of this world without a blessing.

The Talmud

Friday, May 7, 2010

All Beings


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of human beings. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of anything else.

Maimonides

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Marvellous Error!


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Last night, as I slept,
I dreamt – marvellous error! –
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

Antonio Machado

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Organization


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Life seeks organization, but it uses messes to get there. Organization is a process, not a structure.

Margaret J. Wheatley, Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time

Monday, May 3, 2010

Do not harm others


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

All beings tremble before violence.  All fear death.  All love life.  See yourself in others.  Then whom can you hurt?  What harm can you do? 

Buddha

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Asleep


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

There's nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Saturday, May 1, 2010

In relationship


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Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Nothing can exist without the other ... it is only in relationship that one can be fully one's self.

Margaret J. Wheatley, Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time