Methinks we have hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me.
Chapter 3 – The Chapel, Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Suns rise & set, but for us there’s one brief day and one perpetual night. So kiss me a thousand times.
The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
Singer: Is there anything you’ve been able to draw upon, David? Is there comfort in the past?
Milch: I feel the past falling away and the attachments of regret for what wasn’t done or was done badly or was done without sufficient sympathy, and it was for that reason that our granddaughter’s visit was such a redemptive and compelling occurrence. Everything is an adventure for her and a delight and a surprise, an opening up, and that’s a big gratification.
Singer: I’ve never thought of you as a sentimental person, but maybe I misread that. How would you characterize yourself?
Milch: As an unsentimental person.
–David Milch’s Third Act by Mark Singer (New Yorker May 20, 2019)
Is it worth while in any individual case to look for the meaning of a dream, supposing that dreams have any meaning at all and that this meaning can be proved?
Dream life amplifies & compensates for the good encountered in previous days, and those aspects of reality that are bad experiences.
There’s no way that a map can predict all pitfalls & problems or all pleasant surprises. A map is a metaphor that can point to but not capture the actual journey itself. A map is seen through; the journey is lived through.
Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
All you need in order to do yoga is a mat and bare feet, and knowledge of the 5 basic poses: Horse, Cat, Cow, Tadpole, and Cobra. All the rest follow naturally from there.
You’ll learn that good pain, as opposed to bad pain, is the body’s signal that circulation is improving and muscle cells are being recognized.
Tansitional movements from one pose to the next:
He turned to Stephen and said:
—Seriously, Dedalus. I’m stony. Hurry out to your school kip and bring us back some money.
—That reminds me, Haines said, rising, that I have to visit your national library today.
—Our swim first, Buck Mulligan said.”
Ulysses by James Joyce
Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, because it is now that God favors your works. Enjoy life with the wife you love, all the days of the vain life granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life for the toil of your labors under the sun.
Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, no planning, no knowledge, no wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10
-2y + 14 = -x
-2y + x = -14
-2y = -14 – x
-2y = -x – 14
-7 – x/2 = -y
-7 + y = x/2
-7 = -y + x/2
-7 = x/2 – y
-14 – x = -2y
-14 + 2y = x
-14 = -2y + x
-14 = x – 2y
-x – 14 = -2y
-x + 2y = 14
-x = -2y + 14
-x = 14 – 2y
-x/2 – 7 = -y
-x/2 + y = 7
-x/2 = -y + 7
-x/2 = 7 – y
-y + 7 = -x/2
-y + x/2 = -7
-y = -7 -x/2
-y = -x/2 – 7
2y – 14 = x
2y – x = 14
2y = 14 + x
2y = x + 14
7 – y = -x/2
7 + x/2 = y
7 = -x/2 + y
7 = y – x/2
14 – 2y = -x
14 + x = 2y
14 = -x + 2y
14 = 2y – x
x – 2y = -14
x + 14 = 2y
x = -14 + 2y
x = 2y – 14
x/2 – y = -7
x/2 + 7 = y
x/2 = -7 + y
x/2 = y – 7
y – 7 = x/2
y – x/2 = 7
y = 7 + x/2
y = x/2 + 7
same equation sorted alphabetically (ANSI)
Your brain can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder.
V.S. Ramachandran
At its most inclusive, mind is seen as inhering in the structure of myth, institutions & cultures. Culture consists of the sharing of mythic patterns. Culture is then mind writ large which shapes us unawares unless we develop the understanding to shape culture.
Charles Hampden-Turner
Here every step, forward or backward, leads into danger. Escape is out of the question.
The I Ching or Book of Changes
Is it worth while in any individual case to look for the meaning of a dream, supposing that dreams have any meaning at all and that this meaning can be proved?
The psyche is the most baffling phenomenon with which the scientific mind has ever had to deal. Although we must assume that all psychic phenomena are somehow, in the broadest sense, causally dependent, remember that causality is no more than a statistical truth.
Carl G. Jung
Heaven hovers over. It has lofty qualities, a divine atmosphere. It’s a spiritual shelter of continual security, a state above humanity’s most exalted hopes & desires. But the celestial firmament is not a place of rest. Even the angels work. They have their God given assignments.
THE WORD (1958) by Edna Sarah Beardsley (re: heaven)
Descendant of the wild ass, the donkey is a domestic member of the horse family used for hauling goods since 4000 BC.
Donkeys are also related to zebras, although they’re often stockier, stronger and have much different personalities.
Female donkeys are called “jennies” or “jennets,” and a female ready to breed is known as a “broodmare.”
Ass is interchangeable with donkey, and “jackass” refers specifically to a male donkey. But a jackass is not a mule, and all burros are not jackasses.
The three pillars stood out clearly now, three pillars topped with two cross pieces in a way which looked stupefyingly familiar to Arthur’s addled brain.
“The three pillars,” thundered the man. “The Steel Pillar which represented the Strength and Power of the Galaxy!”
Searchlights seared out and danced crazy dances up and down the pillar on the left which was, clearly, made of steel or something very like it. The music thumped and bellowed.
“The Perspex Pillar,” announced the man, “representing the forces of Science and Reason in the Galaxy!”
Other searchlights played exotically up and down the righthand, transparent pillar creating dazzling patterns within it and a sudden inexplicable craving for ice-cream in the stomach of Arthur Dent.
“And,” the thunderous voice continued, “the Wooden Pillar, representing…” and here his voice became just very slightly hoarse with wonderful sentiments, “the forces of Nature and Spirituality.”
The lights picked out the central pillar. The music moved bravely up into the realms of complete unspeakability.
“Between them supporting,” the voice rolled on, approaching its climax, “the Golden Bail of Prosperity and the Silver Bail of Peace!“
The whole structure was now flooded with dazzling lights, and the music had now, fortunately, gone far beyond the limits of the discernible. At the top of the three pillars the two brilliantly gleaming bails sat and dazzled. There seemed to be girls sitting on top of them, or maybe they were meant to be angels. Angels are usually represented as wearing more than that, though.
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING, Chapter 8, by Douglas Adams
Q: We’ve zoomed in September & October – how has that helped you?
A: Helped understand geometry.
Q: I’m glad to help. Who else have you asked for help?
A: Math teacher. Honors students.
Q: Tell me about your teacher. Is he/she good at explaining things?
A: They’re about to go on maternity leave.
Q: What does your teacher look like?
A: Pregnant.
Q: Tell me about your math class. Is it sometimes interesting, or always boring?
A: 30 people, 30 minutes, 5 days per week. Many days just study hall.
Q: How are your friends doing in math? Who is the smartest?
A: Lori
Q: When was your last test? How did you do?
A: October. Fine. 70 out of 100. C-
Q: When is your next test? How will you prepare for it?
A: Friday. Do review today.
We’re going,” he said excitedly, and shivered with energy.
“Where? How?” said Arthur.
“I don’t know,” said Ford, “but I just feel that the time is right.
Things are going to happen. We’re on our way.”He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I have detected,” he said, “disturbances in the wash.”
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING, Chapter 2 – by Douglas Adams
Hunger is the first element of self-discipline.
If you can control what you eat & drink, you can control everything else.
health • impact • joy • love
vocation • wealth • wisdom
WORDS are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
–LORD BYRON
Drinking at least two cups of coffee a day could decrease the risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Coffee is rich in polyphenols, a group of compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity which can be divided according to their chemical structure into flavonoids and non-flavonoids.
If the space terms predominate in the expression for the interval between event-points, the interval is said to be space-like, since it is then possible to select a co-ordinate system–belonging to an observer with an admissible velocity, in which the events appear simultaneous, and therefore separated only spatially.
If, however, the interval is time-like the events cannot be simultaneous in any co-ordinate system, but there exists a co-ordinate system in which the space terms will vanish entirely, so that the separation between events will be purely temporal, id est, occurring at the same place, but at different times.
A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)
Channel fear into action (paradoxical intention); Energize Fear:
Let the channeling begin: ACTION!
Success is measured by the opposition you encounter, and the courage with which you maintain the struggle against overwhelming odds.
–Marden
Eschew sidewalks and low hanging tree branches; walk in the middle of the street, and listen for the notes of traffic.
Forward – If, in this annual, the staff of ’36 can help to cast a backward glance over many pleasant, carefree hours spent in M.H.S. and cause us to live again those happy days of youth, we have reached our goal.
Fort Myers High School
Perception of time will eventually condense into an infinite now. Until then, observe the rush of random thoughts as they travel downstream.