Artist

RIC_9059-2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Not everyone can become a great artist,
     but a great artist can come from everywhere. 

        Anton Ego, Ratatouille (movie by Pixar)

Attention

RIC_8581-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest. 

Simone Weil

Imagination

RIC_8624-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Imagination cures the chaos in the heart. 

Tibetan Proverb

Courage

RIC_9215-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want
of a little courage. 

Sidney Smith

For Peace

Five Oaks Island 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If there is
     a divine spark
     that is in me,
     let it flame;
     that I might be
     consumed
     for peace.

        Erice Fairbrother

Wisdom

Pebbles, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Wisdom is slippery.
It comes in many forms and guises.
Sometimes it is intermingled with a certain amount of unwisdom.

Henry Alford,
How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People

Leasure

Fancy Rider, Paris, Ontario, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The danger of framing 

leisure in terms of work is

that we begin to assume

that leisure exists merely

to refresh us so that we

get back on the job.

Cecile Andres,

Slow is Beautiful: New Vision of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre

Abyss

Cloudy Day 7, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


If you gaze long enough into an abyss,
the abyss gazes into you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Authenticity

Winged Clouds, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     There are two ways to live your life.
     One is as though nothing is a miracle.
     The other is as though everything is a miracle.

        Albert Einstein

Loving, Hopeful & Optimistic

RC1_9263, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

Jack Layton [July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011], his last letter to Canada in 2011

Prayer

Sky Blue Sky, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     I pray shalom
     for you
     that you wake
     each day
     eager to meet
     whatever
     comes.

        Isobel De Gruchy

Play

Stones and Wood, Five Oaks 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

All life should be lived as play.

Plato

Camera

Savoury Grounds 3a, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     The camera is an instrument that teaches people

     how to see without a camera.

        Dorothea Lange

Rules

Wet Lamp, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Learn and obey the rules very well, so you will know how to break them properly.

The Dalai Lama

Imagination

Sunflowers along Kingston Road, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     

     You cannot depend on your eyes

     when your imagination is out of focus.

        Mark Twain

Courage

Night Light, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak;
courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Winston Churchill

Second Naiveté

Flowers on Scarborough Road #3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Beyond rational and critical thinking, we need to be called
     again. This can lead to the discovery of a "second naiveté,'
     which is a return to the joy of our first naiveté, but now
     totally new, inclusive, and mature thinking.

        Paul Ricoeur

The Secret

Flowers by church, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

To look with the eyes
and see with the heart
is the secret of the Philosopher's Stone.

Petrus Bonus

Blessing

Five Oaks 78, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     May the eyes of your heart be enlightened.

        Ephesians 1:18

My Eyes

Five Oaks, Paris, Ontario, Canada 5, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

My eyes are an ocean in which

my dreams are reflected. 

Anna Uhlich

Perseverance

Five Oaks 6, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Perseverance is the name of the path that leads
     from uncertainty to celebration.

        Mary Anne Radmacher,
        Honey in Your Heart: Ways to See and Savor the Simple Good Things

You are

Five Oaks 54, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You are your compassionate purpose,
made visible in the world.

Mary Anne Radmacher,
Honey in Your Heart: Ways to See and Savor the Simple Good Things

Short Memory

RIC_2263, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

A lot of people mistake a short memory

for a clear conscience. 

Doug Larson

     On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the United States' second atomic bomb 
     attack at 11:02 a.m., when the north of the city was destroyed and an estimated 70,000
     people were killed by the bomb. According to statistics found within Nagasaki Peace Park, the
     death toll from the atomic bombing totalled 73,884, including 2,000 Korean forced workers
     and eight POWs, as well as another 74,909 injured, and another several hundred thousand
     diseased and dying due to fallout and other illness caused by radiation. [from Wikipedia]

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

Words

Five Oaks 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

A sentence of words is a marvelous thing. Words reveal. We are presented with reality, with truth that makes our world larger, our relations richer. Words get us out of ourselves and into a responsive relationship with a larger world of time and space, things and people.

Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading

Dream

RIC_8032-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Always have a dream that will last longer than a life time. 

Jack Layton

What must I myself keep on remembering?

RIC_5746-1 b/w, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

In this age of nuclear weapons, when their power gets more attention than the misery they cause, and when human events increasingly revolve around their production and proliferation, what must we Japanese try to remember? Or more pointedly, what must I myself remember and keep on remembering?

Kenzaburo Oe, Hiroshima Notes

On Monday, August 6, 1945 the Atomic Bomb was dropped by the United States Army Air Forces on Hiroshima. The Cenotaph, an arched tomb for those who died because of the bomb either because of the initial blast or exposure to radiation, in Hiroshima holds a register of over 220,000 names.* It is not clear how many more have died due to the Atom Bomb dropped in Hiroshima.

* http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3400.html

Blessing

Five Oaks 42, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Long Life.
     Honey in the Heart.
     No Evil.
     Thirteen Thank You's.

        Guatemalan Native Blessing

Resurrection

Paris, Ontario, Canada 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Practice Resurrection.

Wendell Berry,
Manifesto: The Mad Farmers Liberation Front

Creativity

Five Oaks 36, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Creativity is the residue of time wasted.

        Albert Einstein

My Life

Five Oaks 39, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Tell me whether what I have done is my life.

William Stafford, Ask Me

Community

Sleeping Angel 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Yet without community there is certainly no
     liberation, no future, only the most vulnerable and
     temporary armistice between me and my
     oppression.

        Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals