Photo by Liam Macleod on Unsplash
I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
– Red (narrating), The Shawshank Redemption
When you look at a beautiful picture, where do you feel pleasure, in the picture or in yourself? When you eat a delicious meal, do you experience satisfaction in the food or in yourself? When you meet a friend and feel joy, is that joy in your friend or in yourself?
– Swami Muktananda
Photo by Chris Ensey on Unsplash
Freedom of speech is currently on my radar. I'm writing a little something on it, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a quote—a teaser, if you will—from Soren Kierkegaard.
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought, which they seldom use.
Photo by Paul Varnum on Unsplash
Come, come, whoever you are
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving,
It doesn't matter
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Even if you have broken your vows
A thousand times it doesn’t matter
Come, yet again, come
– Rumi
I saw this on a bumpersticker a couple of days ago, except it had the line "You do the math" right underneath it. It's such a simple statement, yet so easy to forget. I liked this artist's rendition of it, JustGage.
Although, if I had my way with it, I'd change it to this: Love > Fear
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
– Dinah Craik
Photo by oldskool photography on Unsplash
Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
– Abraham Lincoln
