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Showing posts with label CONSCIENCE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CONSCIENCE. Show all posts

4.08.2013

nd 'Think I'm extreme? If even ONE of my children is at risk, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. You? And 200 billion of my kids are not at risk, THEIR FUTURE IS SCHEDULED FOR TERMINATION, HELL, HORROR, FOREVER, unless action is precipitated, NOW, IN 2013. Ever see "John Q," Denzel Washington? Watch it. Hurry. Hmmmm, what's SANE about YOU NOT BEING EXTREME over this????" Loving

nd 'Think I'm extreme?  If even ONE of my children is at risk, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.  You? And 200 billion of my kids are not at risk, THEIR FUTURE IS SCHEDULED FOR TERMINATION, HELL, HORROR, FOREVER, unless action is precipitated, NOW, IN 2013.  Ever see "John Q," Denzel Washington?  Watch it.  Hurry.  Hmmmm, what's SANE about YOU NOT BEING EXTREME over this????"  Loving

3.04.2013

"If you understand yourself as a spiritual be­ ing, you can save yourself from all troubles. No matter what happens to you, you will be un­ touchable." Tolstoy

If you understand yourself as a spiritual be­
ing, you can save yourself from all troubles. No
matter what happens to you, you will be un­
touchable.

From "Wise Thoughts for Every Day," see Library tab above.

****** WOW: Tolstoy on God: "To forget about God means to forget about the one who is always inside you." (more)

People sometimes ask, “Have you forgotten
about God?” This is a good question. To forget
about God means to forget about the one who
is always inside you. To remember God — and
to do this not only through words but also by
constantly remembering that God lives in us —
is truly a great thing.

From Tostoy's "Wise Thoughts for Every Day,"  See Libray Tab.

***** WOW. Tolstoy on "Religion:" "Every person feels that there is some­ thing great inside him or her. In life, that something — that which cannot be understood — is the most important thing of all. A persons attitude toward that thing is religion."

"Every person feels that there is some­
thing great inside him or her. In life,
that something — that which cannot be
understood — is the most important thing of all.
A persons attitude toward that thing is religion."

***** "You should wish only for those things for which God [Good, Loving, Conscience, Heart] wishes." Henri Amiei

"You  should wish only for those things for which
God [Good, Loving, Conscience, Heart] wishes." 
Henri Amiei

From Tolstoy's "A Calendar of Wisdom"  See Library Tab.

Tolstoy: "The more closely a person unites with the will of God [Good, Loving, Conscience, Heart], the firmer this person becomes in his actions."

Tolstoy: "The more closely a person unites with the will of God [Good, Loving, Conscience, Heart], the firmer this person becomes in his actions."

2.24.2013

***** Tolstoy. Feb 24, on Truth

From Wise Thoughts for Every Day
Download here:



FEBRUARY 24

Truth

Do not believe anything on someone’s
word alone. Think and analyze every­
thing, then accept only those things ap­
proved by your intellect.

To live a good life, live by the truth and look
for guidance from those wise people who lived
before us.

The truth comes to you only if you use your
intelligence.

If you want to know the truth, free yourself
from all thoughts of personal profit, and then
make your decision.

Every person seeking truth reminds me of a
farmer. His main task is to select the truth, as a
farmer selects his best seeds, and then plant this
truth, as the farmer plants his seeds in the soil.
Words are your major tools.

nd Tolstoy: "First speak with your inner voice when thinking about this world; only then should you speak to other people."

First speak with your inner voice when
thinking about this world; only then should you
speak to other people.

2.21.2013

Tolstoy: "We should take pity on animals in the same way as we do on each other...." (more)

The killing and eating of animals is a prejudice accepted
by those who think that animals were given to people by
God to eat, so that there is nothing wrong in killing them.
This is not true. It may be written in some books that it is
not a sin to kill an animal, but it is written in our own
hearts more clearly than in any books—that we should
take pity on animals in the same way as we do on each
other. And we all know this, if we do not deaden the voice
of our conscience inside of us.

8.16.2012

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Path-blazes for us: "Who Stands his Ground?"

"The responsible man seeks to make his whole life a response to the question and call of God."

The great masquerade of evil has wrought havoc with all our ethical preconceptions. This appearance of evil in the guise of light, beneficence and historical necessity is utterly bewildering to anyone nurtured in our traditional ethical systems. But for the Christian who frames his life on the Bible it simply confirms the radical evilness of evil.

The failure of rationalism is evident. With the best of intentions, but with a naïve lack of realism, the rationalist imagines that a small dose of reason will be enough to put the world right. In his short-sightedness he wants to do justice to all sides, but in the mêlée of conflicting forces he gets trampled upon without having achieved the slightest effect. Disappointed by the irrationality of the world, he realizes at last his futility, retires from the fray, and weakly surrenders to the winning side.

Worse still is the total collapse of moral fanaticism. The fanatic imagines that his moral purity will prove a match for the power of evil, but like a bull he goes for the red rag instead of the man who carries it, grows weary and succumbs. He becomes entangled with non-essentials and falls into the trap set by the superior ingenuity of his adversary.

Then there is the man with a conscience. He fights singlehanded against overwhelming odds in situations which demand a decision. But there are so many conflicts going on, all of which demand some vital choice--with no advice or support save that of his own conscience--that he is torn to pieces.


Evil approaches him in so many specious and deceptive guises that his conscience becomes nervous and vacillating. In the end he contents himself with a salved instead of a clear conscience, and starts lying to his conscience as a means of avoiding despair. If a man relies exclusively on his conscience he fails to see how a bad conscience is sometimes more wholesome and strong than a deluded one.

When men are confronted by a bewildering variety of alternatives, the path of duty seems to offer a sure way out. They grasp at the imperative as the one certainty. The responsibility for the imperative rests upon its author, not upon its executor. But when men are confined to the limits of duty, they never risk a daring deed on their own responsibility, which is the only way to score a bull's eye against evil and defeat it. The man of duty will in the end be forced to give the devil his due.

What then of the man of freedom? He is the man who aspires to stand his ground in the world, who values the necessary deed more highly than a clear conscience or the duties of his calling, who is ready to sacrifice a barren principle for a fruitful compromise or a barren mediocrity for a fruitful radicalism. What then of him? He must beware lest his freedom should become his own undoing. For in choosing the lesser of two evils he may fail to see that the greater evil he seeks to avoid may prove the lesser. Here we have the raw material of tragedy.

Some seek refuge from the rough-and-tumble of public life in the sanctuary of their own private virtue. Such men however are compelled to seal their lips and shut their eyes to the injustice around them. Only at the cost of self-deception can they keep themselves pure from the defilements incurred by responsible action. For all that they achieve, that which they leave undone will still torment their peace of mind. They will either go to pieces in face of this disquiet, or develop into the most hypocritical of all Pharisees.

Who stands his ground? Only the man whose ultimate criterion is not in his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these things when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and exclusive allegiance to God. The responsible man seeks to make his whole life a response to the question and call of God.

3.31.2012

Loving, here: I won the Lottery Last Night. Here's my plan.

Seriously, in my mind, I won the lottery last evening.  I recall never purchasing a lottery ticket nor thinking of doing so, but yesterday I realized, pushed by a Barrista friend, I owe it to those I'm serving to buy a ticket, or two.

Hours after I realized it myself, I saw a headline to the effect that, 'The Lottery Lets People Dream.' It had that effect on me, and it is not over.

Some of the valuable insights this has give me, reinforced:

1.  We don't have a money problem, we have people problem.  Without people of Heart, Christlikes by whatever name, 100 trillion dollars won't save Creation unless we create more Christlikes, fast.

2.  The notion of spending 1cent of the winnings on myself was deeply revolting - made me want to scream in horror.  The only 'personal' things that I'd want are:
A.  Use the fact that I had the money to get meetings with fewer than 10 folks I thought of - Jim Hansen, Pr. Obama, Mr. Kim the prospective World Bank head, Lester Brown to pick their brains and influence their direction, to try and get them to step into and totally commit to All-out, Unviolent War to Defeat Plan A-rmageddon... AND AMY GOODMAN to try to encourage / fund her to end her unspeakable cowardice, and start writing of the criminal cowardice, apathy, unilateral surrender of the Lip Service Left.
B.  Travel at way below economy class to try to find and empower the 1 in a million, the hero(s) in appalachia risking life, limb, treasure to stop MTR, and their counterparts in Idaho fighting Keystone, in W Canada protecting Great Bear Rainforest, Diane Wilson fighting from her $100 trailer to save the world, see if I could fund just the handful in Greenpeace that risk their lives in demonstrations, Sea Shepherds....
C.  Purchase a 4 year wifi contract to get that off Ellen's back, and so I wouldn't have to worry about that any more.

3.  In hours in my sleeping bag I couldn't think of 20, and possibly not 10 folks, or organizations, that would increase hope in the world with money in their pockets to spend.  No creature of Heart, no hope.  And of the Pure Hearts that could be Trusted to War Unviolently, risking everything for humanity, probably half currently aren't doing so - business people I've met over the decades with Pure, but misguided Hearts.  Folks that lacked Vision, as I did, but by God, when they SAW A MISSION, NO EXCUSES, GET OUT OF MY WAY, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, I'LL PUT AND KEEP EVERYTHING ON THE LINE, yes, breaking all of the sacred code of the Lefties, the 'activists.'  Would they rise?  I don't know.  But I'd ask.

4.  I think Pr. Obama understands this last part, 3, and that is why he is fighting Plan A-rmageddon with all the funding into technology for wind, solar, efficiency... that he can.  We Know how to harness our Head and Flesh in that way, and it could be way better than nothing environmentally.

5.  I realized that finding and getting funds to the 1 in a million was the entirety of what I'd focus on - trying to increase their effectiveness, their reach, 2 fold, 4 fold, 10 fold...

6.  I realized that all hope lies in finding, raising, empowering the 1 in a million, that it becomes 2 in a million, then 3....