PEACE in Iraq and FREEDOM from Bush's TYRANNY
CONGRATULATIONS to the BALTIMORE Colts, Winner of SUPER BOWL XLI
The Winning Tradition Continues . . .
John Unitas, The GREATEST Quarterback in the History of the NFL (1958, 1959, 1967, 1971)!
Peyton Manning, The "Reincarnation" of John Unitas! The WINNING Tradition of the BALTIMORE Colts, Continues . . . (2007)
The arrogance of Robert Irsay in stealing this championship team from the city of Baltimore, Maryland, in the middle-of-the-night, will never, never be forgotten! Fairness and decency says the Ravens represent Indianapolis; not Baltimore!
Likewise may the highly paid commentators and analysts that bring us this sport, never forget the real origins of the Colts; nor a clean cut, former steel worker, who was "cut" by the Pittsburgh Steelers; known for his high top shoes and pinpoint throwing accuracy, is the real reason that professional football (a la, the NFL), is the #1 spectator sport! Go back to the 1958 and 1959 NFL championship games. Remember this was the time of the rise in usage and availability of television in the American home. And the "common" thread in all of this?! John Unitas! Tell that to the frickin' NFL!!!
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace and a soul generated by love. --- Coretta Scott King
"Seek, and you shall find; ask, and it shall be given to you; knock, and the door shall be opened for you."
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. --- Martin Luther King Jr.
Entered Apprentice Bible Passage
Little Courtney Lovingly Donates Her Hair, So Another Child With Cancer MAY Have Hair! Thank You, Courtney!
American Civil War; Russian History; Modern European History; Freemasonry; Spirituality; Jungian Psychology; Chess; Shortwave Radio; Liberal Democrat; Philosophy; Theology; and, the pursuit of TRUTH, which no Patriot Act can permanently prevent!
Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited. Love will overflow every sanctuary given it. Truth will grow where the fertilizer that nourishes it is also truth. --- Alice Walker, Author
The brightly shining mind is never absent but is colored by the thoughts and emotions that people put upon it. If you were to see the luminous freedom of this mind, you would cultivate it before any other, keeping it free from all attachments. --- Anguttara Nikaya [Buddhist]
One should not think, 'My religion alone is the right path and other religions are false.' God can be realized by means of all paths. It is enough to have sincere yearning for God. Infinite are the paths and infinite are the opinions. --- Ramakrishna [Hindu, regarding about right and wrong spiritual paths]
KNOW THYSELF --- Engraved on the entrance to the ancient Temple of Delphi in ancient Greece; and is the definitive statement on personal self knowledge.
"Beautiful people do not just happen . . . The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern . . . Beautiful people do not just happen . . ." --- Elizabeth Kubler Ross
Your vision will become clear *only* when you can look into your own heart. --- Carl Jung
There is no fire like greed and no crime like hatred. There is no sorrow like being bound to this world; there is no happiness like freedom. --- Dhammapada [Buddhist]
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be. --- Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004), American educator
There is no denying that consideration of others is worthwhile. There is no denying that our happiness is inextricably bound up with the happiness of others. There is no denying that if society suffers we ourselves suffer. Nor is there any denying that the more our hearts and minds are afflicted with ill-will, the more miserable we become. Thus we can reject everything else: religion, ideology, all received wisdom. But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion.
--- The Dalai Lama
General standards of human rights apply to the people of all countries because, regardless of their cultural background, all humans share an inherent yearning for freedom, equality and dignity. Democracy and respect for fundamental human rights are as important to Africans and Asians as they are to Europeans and Americans. --- His Holiness, The Dalai Lama
Harvard International Review (1995)
When you know who you are;
When your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will;
No cold can touch your heart;
No deluge can dampen your purpose.
You know that you are alive. --- "Native" American Chief Seattle
Love is the doorway through which the human soul passes from selfishness to service and from solitude to kinship with all humankind. --- Author Unknown
The love you *give away* is the only love you *keep*. --- Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) Writer and publisher
Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. --- Norman MacEwan
Necessary Weaknesses that Build Strength
1. Emotional vulnerability. Becoming an open and feeling person.
2. The ability to ask for help. Both men and women need this one.
3. The ability to say "I am sorry."
4. The ability to make and admit mistakes. Incredibly useful and productive.
5. Reliance on a "higher power."
6. Needs. Everyone has them. Admit to yours and create a plan to meet them in all four areas.: Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual.
7. "Not knowing." The ability to be teachable.
~Ten Signs of Good Health~
1. Persistent presence of a support network
2. Chronic positive expectations; tendency to frame events in a constructive light
3. Episodic outbreaks of joyful, happy experiences
4. Sense of spiritual involvement
5. Tendency to adapt to changing conditions
6. Rapid response and recovery of stress response systems to repeated challenges
7. Increased appetite for physical activity
8. Tendency to identify and communicate feelings
9. Repeated episodes of gratitude and generosity
10. Persistent sense of humor
To succeed . . . you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. --- Tony Dorsett
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward. --- Robyn Davidson
There is a stage of evolution in one's life when one arrives at a state when every question is answered by the life around him. The answer to his question comes as the re-echo of the very question.
For every thought of a sage, everything becomes an accommodation to help it to resound; and in this resonance there is an answer. In point of fact, the answer is in the question itself. The answer wells
up from the depth of all existence, like the sound of a bell being struck, or the splash of water, or the crackle of a firecracker; each reveals its condition when struck, like the knock on the door. --- Hazrat Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan (Sufi/Muslim)
http://www.youtube.com/v/PWlS8Oerx8o
Mariah Carey Sings "Hero"
This is one of two songs that motivated and empowered me during the time I had become a mountain of human flesh at 350 lbs., and, had spent 7 yrs. in a wheelchair; caused by depression, loneliness and a declining marriage. I chose to "medicate" myself with food--lots of fattening food! I began outpatient physical therapy in October 1995 with Mississippi Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Flowood. By the time I ended, I was "well on my way" to reaching 205 lbs.; again, driving a hand-control operated car; and even walking 3 miles with my heavy steel and leather braces, orthopedic shoes, and crutches! A heartfelt thanks Mariah, for the profound way your song empowered me to truly transform my life; eat healthier; and live better!
I know why families were created, with all their imperfections. They humanize you. They are made to make you forget yourself occasionally, so that the beautiful balance of life is not destroyed. --- Anais Nin (1903-1977) Writer
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ax6aGxNow5I
Whitney Houston singing several songs, but culminating with "The Greatest Love of All". Both her rendition and Mariah Carey's were *most* inspiring and motivating to me during my 6 mos. of physical therapy (1995-1996), when I learned to walk for the 2nd time in my life! And reciprocally . . . this song has profound meaning and importance to anyone being abused, engaging in cutting, coping with a serious health issue (i.e., heart disease, cancer, disabling accident), depression, bipolar disorder and similar circumstances!
http://www.youtube.com/v/WDQr6w5YIMs
Martina McBride Sings the Ballad Opposing Domestic Violence, "Independence Day"
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward. --- Robyn Davidson
Service... Giving what you don't have to give. Giving when you don't need to give. Giving because you want to give. --- Damien Hess
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perrenial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
--- Author Unknown: Found in a church in Baltimore, Md. in the 18th Century
May your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. --- Colossians 4:6
Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself. --- Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Indian Chief
We are, each of us, angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another. --- Luciano de Crescenzo
Why does losing hurt so much? I have no answers now; only the life I have lived. Twice in that life, I have been given that choice--as a boy and as a man. The boy chooses safety; The man, suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness. That's the deal.
The closing narration by Sir Anthony Hopkins to the film Shadowlands, the story of the life of writer, teacher, and theologian C. S. Lewis; staring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.
Just Be Yourself
Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything.
Be generous to those who need your help.
Be frugal with what you need yourself.
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles.
Be willing to share your joys.
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.
Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower when you are shrouded in the midst of uncertainty.
Be the first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
Be the last to criticize a colleague who fails.
Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not stumble.
Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way.
Be loving to those who love you.
Be loving to those who do not love you, and they may change.
Above all, be yourself! --- Author Unknown
Without Love
Without love in the heart,
Life is like a sapless tree in a barren desert.
What good is a body perfect in outer ways,
If inwardly it is impaired by lack of love?
With love enshrined in the heart, one lives.
Without it, the body is but bone encased in skin. --- Tirukkural 8:78-80 [Hindu]
What is called sympathy, kindness, mercy, goodness, pity, compassion, gentleness, humanity, appreciation, gratefulness, service, -- in reality it is love. --- Pir Inayat Khan [Sufi/Muslim]
Marriage
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness; And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone;
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart; And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow. --- From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Your Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you; And though they are with you; Yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. --- From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out. --- Anne Frank
Prayer of Kindness
Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home to the stranger. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility. --- Bahá'u'lláh
No one is on the journey of faith alone. No one. We are Brother and Sister. We are community. We are part of a "common" planet and world; each with our own unique talents, gifts and abilities; with everyone having something of value and importance to "bring to the Table." And if that is true, it dramatically changes the way we live.
We give up the need to keep score in our relationships. We realize that we are all broken, and the Grace of God is the glue. We learn to see the face of God in our neighbor.
We learn that our identity is no longer dependent on our appearance, affluence or achievement, so we have no need to impress anyone.
We learn to receive from one another, and to give to one another without expecting a payoff. We find God's Grace in places, through people we least expect.
We make a difference together--to serve, and truly be salt and light to a needy world.
Mother Teresa said that the reason we don't have peace in this world is that we have forgotten that we belong to one another. --- Adapted from Jesus in Skin by Terry Hershey
"Be sensitive to the plight of others. You have to know about the tragedies as well as the triumphs, the failures as well as the success." --- Jim Rohn
". . . Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." --- Philippians 2:12b-13
Tefilat HaDerekh
(The Traveler's Prayer)
May it be Your will, Hashem, our God and the God of our ancestors, that You lead us toward peace, guide our footsteps toward peace, and make us reach our desired destination for life, gladness, and peace.
May you rescue us from the hand of every foe, ambush along the way, and from all manner of punishments that assemble to come to earth.
May You send blessing in our handiwork; and grant us grace, kindness, and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see us.
May You hear the sound of our humble request because You are the God Who hears prayer requests.
Blessed are You, Hashem, Who hears prayer. Amen.
"My life is an indivisible whole, and all my attitudes run into one another; and they all have their rise in my insatiable love for mankind."--- Mahatma Gandhi
"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young; compassionate with the aged; sympathetic with the striving; and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life, you will have been all of these." --- George Washington Carver
"Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push - a smile. A word of optimism and hope, a 'you can do it!' when things are tough." --- Richard De Vos
"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it." --- Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), American clergyperson
"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. . . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent--its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD." --- Isaiah 11:6; 65:25
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. --- II Timothy 1:7
"A Victim NO More!: Domestic and Child Abuse"
http://www.youtube.com/v/KD60vg76fEk
The pictures in this video are graphic; but so are the pain, the scars and the wounds that proceed from this kind of senseless and demented attempt to control another through fear and degradation of body, mind and spirit! If you or someone you love is caught in the net of an abusive relationship, please seek immediate counsel and assistance from a clergyperson or a trusted friend! Your or their life depends upon immediate and decisive action! Love should never hurt!!!
"[Religious] dogmatism is not good. It is not good to feel that my religion is alone is true and other religions are right or wrong, true or false. I say this because one cannot know the true nature of God unless one realizes Him. ... Do you know what the truth is? God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries. All [such religious] doctrines are only so many paths [to God]; but a path [to God] is by no means God Himself.....If there are errors in other religions, that is none of our business. God, to whom the world belongs, takes care of that." --- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
*Our Greatest Fear*
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small, doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make and manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. --- Marianne Williamson
Dear Friends,
I just signed the First Freedom First petition -- about the importance of safeguarding separation of church and state and protecting religious liberty. The founders of our nation believed that all Americans should have the right to worship according to their own beliefs, or not to worship at all. It was so important to them that they placed it in the first sentence of the Bill of Rights. I believe that religion is a deeply personal matter and that Americans must be free to practice their religion without coercion. Simply put, there must be a separation of church and state. I know that we agree about the importance of these issues, so I hope that you will ACT NOW, like I just did. Be a part of First Freedom First.
Sign the petition and encourage others to join you. Together, we will send a powerful and resounding message -- safeguard the first freedom!
Please visit the website below and join me in standing up for this fundamental American freedom.
http://www.firstfreedomfirst.org/
The LIBERAL Christian Manifesto
We are witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; we are not the only people of God, but tell all the Truth; not as a monopoly; but with respect for the views of all persons, irregardless of how they see God, whatever faith system they embrace; they are worthy of love, honor, and respect; and they are all children of the same God as You or me! | 
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