I was phoned today from halfway across the world by someone who had just lost a loyal friend. He said he felt he had lost part of himself. After telling him how sorry I was I said I could do no more than read to him the words of John Donne who was Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London from 1621 to 1631. Please listen. You may have to turn up the volume. Thank you.
No man is an island
You and I don’t just exist. We are always deciding what our existence will be and what we will become the next moment. Why is this true for me and for you? Why is it true for all people? The reason is because we all have free will. As Victor Frankl wrote: “…every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.” The answer to the question? We each decide. No buck passing!
Based on the writing of Victor Frankl
Can you hear the joy of the saplings as they grow into magnificent giants?. The sound of the mighty forest is silent thunder. The road invites me to enter this eternal sanctuary. Please join me on the journey. Listen to the silent words as the Redwoods speak to you.
Why is there a feeling that things are falling apart in these uncertain times? Do we sense that anarchy is increasingly eroding law and order? What has happened to ethics? Is there a centre that is falling apart? What is that centre? What is your centre? What is my centre?
Scroll below picture on your phone, please.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
Opening to The Second Coming – W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939
Please see photo below. Thank you.
“You reap what you sow” is surely accepted as true by all reasonable people.
It is equally true that “You sometimes reap what others sow.”
Such is the reality of living in our interconnected world.
Let us remember that whatever we do will not only affect us personally but may also affect other people. So, we must take care when we sow.
Acknowledgment: The sentence “You sometimes reap what others sow” was coined by Professor Thomas Jay Oord in his book “GOD CAN’T”.
Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy. Warren W. Wiersbe
Thank you
Has 2020 been a year in which your basic assumptions have been challenged? Have your basic assumptions changed about yourself and the planet in which we live? My guess is they have – for you and for millions of people all over the world. Are you disturbed by what has happened in 2020? Should you be?
Dr. Ian McCallum of Port Elizabeth, South Africa has written about these challenges to our assumptions in a very important “must read” article.
To see the article click here.
Dr. McCallum is a psychiatrist, psychologist, award winning author and poet. He is an adjunct professor at the Nelson Mandela Graduate School of Business in Port Elizabeth. He is also an honorary lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cape Town. In his youth he was a Springbok Rugby player (he represented South Africa).
Thank you.
Scroll down below picture
Imagine
You have just left on a long journey. You are to be away for a long, long time. Where you are there are no cell phones. No WhatsApp. No FaceTime. No eMail. No communication at all.
Question
Is there anything you regret you did not tell someone you love?
Yes?
Tell them now.
Please
What is the salutation of the Dawn?
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart ….
Proverbs 15:30
Once upon a time in a beautiful valley in the mountains of Europe there was a small village. In the village lived an old lady. She had the reputation for being very wise. People in the village often used to go to her and ask her for advice.
In the same village there also lived two young boys. Despite the fact that they were not living in the age of Professor Google, they nevertheless had reached the age of infinite wisdom. There was not much they did not know (or so they thought).
One day the two boys decided to test the wisdom of the old lady to see how smart she really was. They were sure they could catch her out. Easily. This is what they did.
They caught a small bird. A bird so small it could fit into the palm of their hands. They told their friends about their plan. “That old lady does not know much. She is really old fashioned. Here is what we are going to do. I am going to put this bird in the palm of my hands.Then we are going to visit the old lady. We will tell her that I have a tiny bird hidden in my hands. Then I am going to ask her if the little bird in my hands is dead or alive. If she says the bird is dead I will open my hands and the bird will fly away. She will be proved wrong. If she says the bird is alive, I well crush the bird with my hands and show her the dead bird. She will be proved wrong. I wonder what the smart old lady will say. Whatever she says, she will be wrong. She can’t win!.”
The other children listening were very impressed with this clever plan to show the famous old lady could be wrong. They all trooped along with the two boys and the little bird to watch the old lady being caught out.
The two boys with the bird arrived at the old lady’s cottage. Plenty of other children were watching.
At the door of the cottage, the two boys presented their challenge to the old lady: “Tell us if the bird is alive or dead”
There was a hush. The old lady looked carefully at the two boys.
One of the watching children whispered, “She doesn’t know”.
At last the old lady spoke. “It is completely in your hands whether the bird will live of die. I repeat: The bird’s life is completely in your hands. It is your choice.”
There was just silence.
Continue
The two boys and the watching children were amazed at the old lady’s wise answer. It is a story they remembered and spoke about for the rest of their lives.
Continue
The take away
We all have great trans-formative power. When faced with a situation, good or bad, we have a choice. By what we do, we can make a situation better or worse. How a situation evolves is very much in our hands. Such is our power of transformation.Take care. Be safe.
Source: The story is an adaptation by me of a story which is all over the internet in different forms.
.
johnbartels.com 