Quotations

New York Dawn 18 March 2022 – A Poem

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Apologies, gratitude and full acknowledgement to William Wordsworth.

Please look at the picture and scroll down to the poem. Thank you.

Thank you to AB for the picture – March 2022
New York Dawn

Earth has not anything to show so fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
New York now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Concrete canyons, theatres, walkways, the avenues lie
Waiting for their throngs, as orange dawn lights the sky;
Never did sun so beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
New York will awake at its own sweet will.
Dear God! the very buildings seem asleep;
And all New York's mighty heart is lying still! 

*************
Almost all based on "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September3, 1802" by William Wordsworth.

Shattered Glass and Blind Belief

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What happens when blind belief is surrendered?

“Having once surrendered blind belief, it is impossible to return to it, for the essence of such belief is to be unconscious of itself. As soon as this unconsciousness ceases it is shattered like a glass whose fragments can not be again reunited except by being cast again into the furnace and refashioned.”

Abu Hgamid min al-Ghazali 1058-1111CE Please scroll down

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Also: Is it ok to be disillusioned? Click here

Each Individual, Climate Change, the Dung Beetle and the Starfish

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“As an individual I cannot do anything to save our world’s climate. That fight is for the big nations. I personally cannot make a difference. So, I will do nothing”

Edmund Burke would strongly disagree with your attitude and admonish you thus!

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” – Edmund Burke

And the tiny African Dung Beetle would just laugh at you!

So – Put that one starfish back in the sea.

The Serpent and the Dove

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Jesus advised His team:”Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” KJV

Why is this very wise advice? Have a look at a good Bible Commentary on Matthew 10:16

The Salutation of the Dawn

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This is a repeat post. I am repeating it because of the number of people who have looked at it. I hope Kalidasa’s poem helps you as it has helped me. John 7 October 2021

No, this is not a recently discovered painting by Turner! It is a photo taken by our friend, artist Professor Estelle Marais. The picture is of sunrise over the harbour in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on 7 June 2020.

Silhouetted against the rising sun is a harbour crane, affectionately described by Estelle as “The Harbour Giraffe walking into the sun this morning”.

Estelle always finds the welcoming dawn encouraging and inspiring.

This wonderful photograph is a powerful reminder of Kalidasa’s greatly loved poem “Look to this Day”:

Scroll down below the picture to read the famous poem:

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Picture Estelle Marais

Look To This Day

Look to this day:
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement
Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!

Thank you Kalidasa and Estelle

Please do this now

Facts versus Opinions

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“You’re entitled to your own opinions. You’re not entitled to your own facts.”

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

  • The Earth is round
  • The Earth is flat


Questions to think about (3): Love now

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“One day, you are going to hug your last hug, kiss your last kiss and hear someone’s voice for the last time, but you never know when the last time will be. Live every day as if it were the last time you will be with the person you love.”

Does this quote speak to you? Is the message prompting you to do something, right now?

Author of quote unknown to me

Freedom of Expression (Free Speech)

/ John Bartels / 2 Comments

How important is freedom of expression (free speech)?

Listen to the words of Benjamin Cardozo, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1932–38. He described freedom of expression as:

‘(T)he matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom’.

Photo by Adrien Delforge on Unsplash

Quote from Free Speech by Andrew Doyle

The Sacred Call of the Sea

/ John Bartels / 2 Comments

NB: There is a picture below the post.

It was the English poet John Keats who wrote:

On the Sea

It keeps eternal whisperings around
Desolate shores ….
….
Oh ye! whose ears are dinned with uproar rude,
Or fed too much with cloying melody—
Sit ye near some old Cavern’s Mouth and brood,
Until ye start, as if the sea nymphs quired!

Keats suggests that if we have had enough of this noisy world, we should go to a quiet place by the sea and sit “near some old Cavern’s mouth and brood”. Suddenly, out of the silence we may be startled to hear choirs of sea nymphs singing.

We are being called to go back to nature and to allow her to gently embrace us in her healing arms.

This sacred call of the sea is exquisitely captured in the beautiful photograph below. Be still. Can you hear the call?

Photpgraph: Mariska Spoormaker

A big thank you to Mariska Spoormaker for permission to use her beautiful photograph. Mariska took the picture on the Sacramento Trail near Port Elizabeth in South Africa.