When asked about fear of death, Art Buchwald said:
"The question is not where you are going but what in the hell are we doing here in the first place."
(Originally published Jan. 18, 2007, on former MySpace blog)
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
September 3, 2007
For A Better Life on Earth
"Everyone would do unto others as they would have done unto themself."
"Everyone would be a good steward of the planet earth - it is the only planet we have that we know of that we can live on"
" Remember the Arapaho indian saying about life on this earth "Only the Rocks Live Forever."
Finally, from disederata, go placidly amid the noise and the 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 the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggessive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and 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 is 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 perennial 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 stress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are borne out 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 and 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 with your soul.
With all its sham and drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
(Originally posted Jan. 11, 2007, on former MySpace blog)
"Everyone would be a good steward of the planet earth - it is the only planet we have that we know of that we can live on"
" Remember the Arapaho indian saying about life on this earth "Only the Rocks Live Forever."
Finally, from disederata, go placidly amid the noise and the 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 the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggessive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and 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 is 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 perennial 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 stress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are borne out 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 and 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 with your soul.
With all its sham and drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
(Originally posted Jan. 11, 2007, on former MySpace blog)
Early and Most recent books I have read
*EARLIER BOOKS THAT HAVE HAD THE MOST INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE
** 6/29/10 It came to mind, that although I may list the most influential books in my life, all of these were read and internalized during time time and amidst the prevailing influence of the scientific age.
- The Catholic Catechism - Roman Catholic Church
(At the youngest and most influential age of my life, when I first began to read, this book was introduced to me, and for better or worse [mostly better] ingrained the morals of most Christian thinking - About 1956)
- The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
( This fictional work is an example, there are others, but this is one I can recall that taught me one of the greatest joys I have known in life, the joy of reading. 1957)
- The Strangest Secret, Earl Nightingale
(This is not actually a book but a motivational recording on living a successful life , explaining what a successful life is. Testimony to its greatness, is that it was produced in 1956, is still available and sold today. I will be forever indebted to Lee A Struck, my friend from Dunseith High School for introducing me to this recording. At a young and influential age (16), it provided the first real direction in life that I internalized, believed and made my own - 1964)
- The Magic of Believing, Claude Bristol, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carniege
( This are 4 books of several that I read when I was a teenager. They taught me the importance of focus, of doing something with my life. They were all follow-ups to "The Strangest Secret." These books are actually the forerunners of most if not all of the motivational genre of today - in a sense, from the first on this list to "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
-Mans Search for Himself - Rollo May
(This book, more than any other to the day I read it, forced me to a higher level of self awareness, it helped me see myself through my own experiences. I did not know at the time the great affect it was having on me and inevitably, took me down the road to existentialism, which carried my life for many,many years 1968)
- Introduction to Sociology - Textbooks
( These introductory books and many other Sociology books that followed, would likely not have had the influence they did had it not been for Arthur Wilke, sociology professor at the University of ND. In teaching sociology he brought in Jean Jacque Rousseau, Thomas Paine, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and all the other social and political philosophers who wrote about human liberty)
- Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl
(Frankl was a survivor of the Holocaust. A psychologist, he found meaning in life after experiencing about every loss a human could know - except for his life. This meaning lives in the fact that everything can be taken away from you, except for your own thinking and belief in yourself 1973 - re-read in 1991 and 2004).
- Personality Theories, Basic Assumptions, Research and Applications, Larry Hjelle and Daniel Ziegler
( All about those scientific theories of human personality, Freud, Skinner, Maslow, Erikson, Rogers and others. This would probably not be on the "most influential list" except that often, I find myself thinking about life and the human condition in terms of these theories. So it is a necessary entry)
- Cosmos - Carl Sagan
( Began reading this book and listening to this popular astrophysist in the 1980's. My only mistake was that I did not follow through, life got in the way. This book (and the video series "Cosmos" - excerpts which can be viewed through YTube as an entry in this blog - "The Pale Blue Dot". If you are not aware of it - just a quick summary, in the words of Carl Sagan "The earth is but a small stage in a vast, cosmic universe."
Revisted in 2005-06-07, it changed my life in realizing that comparatively, although existentialism is one of the worlds great philosophies, how really insignificant it and all the other philosophies and ideologies of the world are. Although interesting, these philosophies are all vain and are destined to repose on the trash heap of the history of the world).
RECENTLY READ
- On The Road, Jack Kerouc
- On Writing, Stephen King (in progress, this book might make the list of the most influential).
-The Future of Freedom -Democracy and Freedom at Home and Abroad, by Fareed Zakaria
-The Greatest Generation, by Tom Brokaw
-Don Quixote, by Cervantes
(Originally posted Oct. 26, 2006, on former MySpace blog)
-Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risk of the World's Most Popular Form of Government- by Michael Mandelbaum
-(Presently Reading - 'The Struggle for Significance")
-Catch Me If You Can, by Frank Abagnale
-How to Write About Yourself, by Chilsom and Courtie
-The Sociopath Next Door,
-Genesis (Joseph, Christian and Hebrew Bible)
-Gig, edited by Bowe, Bowe, and Streeter
-Events That Made America
-Quotations of Thomas Jefferson
-The Procrastinators Handbook
-How to Survive the Loss of a Love
-Positville, by Stephan Bloom
-Ecclesiates, (the Bible)
-Mans Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl
-The New, New Thing, by Jim Clark
-Of Paradise and Power, by Robert Kagan
-Office Warfare, Marilyn Moats Kennedy
-Message on the Wind/A Spiritual Odessy on the Northern Plains, Clay Jenkinson
-Prisoners of our Thoughts, Alex Petakos
** 6/29/10 It came to mind, that although I may list the most influential books in my life, all of these were read and internalized during time time and amidst the prevailing influence of the scientific age.
- The Catholic Catechism - Roman Catholic Church
(At the youngest and most influential age of my life, when I first began to read, this book was introduced to me, and for better or worse [mostly better] ingrained the morals of most Christian thinking - About 1956)
- The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
( This fictional work is an example, there are others, but this is one I can recall that taught me one of the greatest joys I have known in life, the joy of reading. 1957)
- The Strangest Secret, Earl Nightingale
(This is not actually a book but a motivational recording on living a successful life , explaining what a successful life is. Testimony to its greatness, is that it was produced in 1956, is still available and sold today. I will be forever indebted to Lee A Struck, my friend from Dunseith High School for introducing me to this recording. At a young and influential age (16), it provided the first real direction in life that I internalized, believed and made my own - 1964)
- The Magic of Believing, Claude Bristol, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carniege
( This are 4 books of several that I read when I was a teenager. They taught me the importance of focus, of doing something with my life. They were all follow-ups to "The Strangest Secret." These books are actually the forerunners of most if not all of the motivational genre of today - in a sense, from the first on this list to "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
-Mans Search for Himself - Rollo May
(This book, more than any other to the day I read it, forced me to a higher level of self awareness, it helped me see myself through my own experiences. I did not know at the time the great affect it was having on me and inevitably, took me down the road to existentialism, which carried my life for many,many years 1968)
- Introduction to Sociology - Textbooks
( These introductory books and many other Sociology books that followed, would likely not have had the influence they did had it not been for Arthur Wilke, sociology professor at the University of ND. In teaching sociology he brought in Jean Jacque Rousseau, Thomas Paine, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and all the other social and political philosophers who wrote about human liberty)
- Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl
(Frankl was a survivor of the Holocaust. A psychologist, he found meaning in life after experiencing about every loss a human could know - except for his life. This meaning lives in the fact that everything can be taken away from you, except for your own thinking and belief in yourself 1973 - re-read in 1991 and 2004).
- Personality Theories, Basic Assumptions, Research and Applications, Larry Hjelle and Daniel Ziegler
( All about those scientific theories of human personality, Freud, Skinner, Maslow, Erikson, Rogers and others. This would probably not be on the "most influential list" except that often, I find myself thinking about life and the human condition in terms of these theories. So it is a necessary entry)
- Cosmos - Carl Sagan
( Began reading this book and listening to this popular astrophysist in the 1980's. My only mistake was that I did not follow through, life got in the way. This book (and the video series "Cosmos" - excerpts which can be viewed through YTube as an entry in this blog - "The Pale Blue Dot". If you are not aware of it - just a quick summary, in the words of Carl Sagan "The earth is but a small stage in a vast, cosmic universe."
Revisted in 2005-06-07, it changed my life in realizing that comparatively, although existentialism is one of the worlds great philosophies, how really insignificant it and all the other philosophies and ideologies of the world are. Although interesting, these philosophies are all vain and are destined to repose on the trash heap of the history of the world).
RECENTLY READ
- On The Road, Jack Kerouc
- On Writing, Stephen King (in progress, this book might make the list of the most influential).
-The Future of Freedom -Democracy and Freedom at Home and Abroad, by Fareed Zakaria
-The Greatest Generation, by Tom Brokaw
-Don Quixote, by Cervantes
(Originally posted Oct. 26, 2006, on former MySpace blog)
-Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risk of the World's Most Popular Form of Government- by Michael Mandelbaum
-(Presently Reading - 'The Struggle for Significance")
-Catch Me If You Can, by Frank Abagnale
-How to Write About Yourself, by Chilsom and Courtie
-The Sociopath Next Door,
-Genesis (Joseph, Christian and Hebrew Bible)
-Gig, edited by Bowe, Bowe, and Streeter
-Events That Made America
-Quotations of Thomas Jefferson
-The Procrastinators Handbook
-How to Survive the Loss of a Love
-Positville, by Stephan Bloom
-Ecclesiates, (the Bible)
-Mans Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl
-The New, New Thing, by Jim Clark
-Of Paradise and Power, by Robert Kagan
-Office Warfare, Marilyn Moats Kennedy
-Message on the Wind/A Spiritual Odessy on the Northern Plains, Clay Jenkinson
-Prisoners of our Thoughts, Alex Petakos
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