Le Bac À Glaces 🍨 with Shannon
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Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Most Beautiful Thing
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. - Albert Einstein
I have a problem with know-it-alls. (Yeah, I know. "Look who's talking" right? I have a point, so bear with me.) The source of this is, of course, my having gone to a few fundamentalist churches as a child. This authority who stands at the altar is supposed to give us all a defined direction, tell us what to think, what to believe, how to behave at all times, what's right, what's
wrong. And then, this shiny, clean person inevitably falls from his towering position when it becomes ever so evident that he (or she) not only does not have all the answers, but is just as prone to what they consider to be mistakes. It's a front.My problem with this is that I don't see the point in knowing "everything", having all the answers. It leaves little to strive for, and less to learn. Why do they need to have all the answers? Why do these people try so hard to be something that they clearly are not capable of being? Sadly, nearly everyone I know that succumbs to the idea of a single truth of the thousand (even million) of others fails to see a bigger picture.
My grandmother (God bless her; she can't work a computer) used to tell me these incredible descriptions of the way Heaven will be when we get there, all solid gold sidewalks, and riches beyond imagination. Will she be disappointed if she gets there and stands (or floats or exists) before God and finds that nothing is as she expects?
I recently discovered that I feel that the mystery is just as (perhaps is even more) important than the "known". There's a whole universe out there of mystery. Looking at the pictures of space, I can't help seeing the infinite beauty of it. I don't need to know why stars are born, where the light goes when it's gone, how the universe came to be to see all of the beauty.
Yes, I would admit that I love a good investigation. There are things that I do want to know for sure. The mystery keeps me looking for them. It keeps us all on our toes.
*Picture is of the Orion Deep Field by Rob Gendler
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
"What if the mightiest word is love?"
I love America. I love the world. Brotherhood and sisterhood have no borders. My heart orbits the Earth, love cannot be measured in longitude and latitude. - Valentine Sterling
It's been three weeks since the historic inauguration heard 'round the world. And it feels as though it needs some reminiscing already. Yes, some partisanship in Congress is occurring, but I think for the most part, people want to believe in the message that our brand-new President is constantly forwarding to the country.
I didn't have the pleasure of attending the festivities in Washington, D.C. on January 20th, but I watched with a strange awe and confirmation of my already strongly held beliefs that we, as a people (and even some foreign peoples), were finally coming together on the same page. Yes, there will be challenges, and we won't always agree on everything. But in that moment, when President Obama took that most solemn oath, a message was sent around the world, loud and abundantly clear, that the status quo, the seemingly endless bigotry, and the sense that we lack connection between us all is coming to an impressive end. It was a message that gave a hope never felt before - a hope filled with oneness.
Through the television screen I felt the bristling, electric air that the millions of gatherers felt on the National Mall, peering up at the monuments around them, hearing those words. I felt the love - a hearty, real, omnipresent love. The kind that makes you think that anything is possible.
What if we felt this all the time? Every moment of everyday we could be aware of the love we have for one another - friend, stranger, family, foreigner, neighbor. What if it was in our every thought and action? What would the world be like then?
Elizabeth Alexander was right in asking, "What if the mightiest word is love?"
It's been three weeks since the historic inauguration heard 'round the world. And it feels as though it needs some reminiscing already. Yes, some partisanship in Congress is occurring, but I think for the most part, people want to believe in the message that our brand-new President is constantly forwarding to the country.
I didn't have the pleasure of attending the festivities in Washington, D.C. on January 20th, but I watched with a strange awe and confirmation of my already strongly held beliefs that we, as a people (and even some foreign peoples), were finally coming together on the same page. Yes, there will be challenges, and we won't always agree on everything. But in that moment, when President Obama took that most solemn oath, a message was sent around the world, loud and abundantly clear, that the status quo, the seemingly endless bigotry, and the sense that we lack connection between us all is coming to an impressive end. It was a message that gave a hope never felt before - a hope filled with oneness.
Through the television screen I felt the bristling, electric air that the millions of gatherers felt on the National Mall, peering up at the monuments around them, hearing those words. I felt the love - a hearty, real, omnipresent love. The kind that makes you think that anything is possible.
What if we felt this all the time? Every moment of everyday we could be aware of the love we have for one another - friend, stranger, family, foreigner, neighbor. What if it was in our every thought and action? What would the world be like then?
Elizabeth Alexander was right in asking, "What if the mightiest word is love?"
Monday, February 2, 2009
Winter... ugh.
Every mile is two in winter. ~George Herbert
Today is Groundhog Day. Yes, we gather together in seeking knowledge of the immediate future, in hopes that our winter is to be short, and our spring imminent.
That said, I must say that it is quite a drag waiting for the weather to get warmer, and the snow to dissipate and give way to grass (brown as it will be, no doubt). Everything takes longer in the winter: leaving the house (shoveling snow and brushing off/scraping the windshield of the car), running errands (factoring in the slower and slippery driving of everyone in front of you on the road), even walking requires more care for fear of slipping and falling.
I wish I could say that I was one of those brave people who love skiing or ice skating (the ice has gotten harder the older I get). Don't get me wrong, I like the changing of the seasons. I like snuggling up in warm blankets in front of a crackling fire. But as the seasons change, the renewal is as important to me as anything that becomes possible with that season. It's another beginning, another start.
Spring cleaning, fresh warm air, the melting of the ice and snow, the appearance of blooms, and the song of birds are welcome. Oh, Phil, may your shadow elude you today.
________________________________________________________
This is Women's Heart Week. Friday is National Wear Red Day, a way to raise awareness for women's heart disease. This is the NUMBER ONE killer of women, so I cannot stress the importance of being well-informed and living a healthy lifestyle.
To learn more about this day and women's heart health in general, go to http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/.
Today is Groundhog Day. Yes, we gather together in seeking knowledge of the immediate future, in hopes that our winter is to be short, and our spring imminent.
That said, I must say that it is quite a drag waiting for the weather to get warmer, and the snow to dissipate and give way to grass (brown as it will be, no doubt). Everything takes longer in the winter: leaving the house (shoveling snow and brushing off/scraping the windshield of the car), running errands (factoring in the slower and slippery driving of everyone in front of you on the road), even walking requires more care for fear of slipping and falling.
I wish I could say that I was one of those brave people who love skiing or ice skating (the ice has gotten harder the older I get). Don't get me wrong, I like the changing of the seasons. I like snuggling up in warm blankets in front of a crackling fire. But as the seasons change, the renewal is as important to me as anything that becomes possible with that season. It's another beginning, another start.
Spring cleaning, fresh warm air, the melting of the ice and snow, the appearance of blooms, and the song of birds are welcome. Oh, Phil, may your shadow elude you today.
________________________________________________________
This is Women's Heart Week. Friday is National Wear Red Day, a way to raise awareness for women's heart disease. This is the NUMBER ONE killer of women, so I cannot stress the importance of being well-informed and living a healthy lifestyle.
To learn more about this day and women's heart health in general, go to http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Welcome to a New Year!
I know I've been absent for over a week, so to those of you who faithfully visit, I want to apologize.
This new year is so full of promise and hope that even the evermore dire reports of the economy and the state of the world's many conflicts cannot deter me from the hope that ushers me forward.
As we make goals in the next few weeks, I'd like to remind everyone that there is no such thing as "too late", or "too far gone". As long as humans inhabit this planet, our miraculous existence means that there is good in the world and that we can fix any problem, compromise with our enemies, and overcome our differences. We need only to be willing to believe and to act, doing the right thing at every turn. There are endless possibilities if we only open our eyes to them.
Happy New Year! May it be prosperous and healthy for you and yours.
This new year is so full of promise and hope that even the evermore dire reports of the economy and the state of the world's many conflicts cannot deter me from the hope that ushers me forward.
As we make goals in the next few weeks, I'd like to remind everyone that there is no such thing as "too late", or "too far gone". As long as humans inhabit this planet, our miraculous existence means that there is good in the world and that we can fix any problem, compromise with our enemies, and overcome our differences. We need only to be willing to believe and to act, doing the right thing at every turn. There are endless possibilities if we only open our eyes to them.
Happy New Year! May it be prosperous and healthy for you and yours.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Seeds sown.
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson
The fact that we are given a chance to renew our efforts, in whatever direction, each and every morning is possibly one of the greatest blessings of being human. For some, this will mean starting over all the time, but is it really starting over? The intentions that you have, with each little effort, grow and grow. How lovely your garden will be with the right amount of time.
Great things are not accomplished overnight. Rather, they require the ability to keep moving in a certain direction, or sometimes are the result of trial and error. Either way, as long as you plant your seeds every single day, you will find in time that you are moving closer and closer to the rewards of your deeds.
As we edge ever closer to a new year, with new promises and goals, remember that this as much a way of making a new start as any, as well as a time to reflect on the year 2008, it's mistakes and rewards alike. How blessed we are for these new starts. And how blessed we are to be able to plant new seeds of which the abundant harvest will be reaped.
The fact that we are given a chance to renew our efforts, in whatever direction, each and every morning is possibly one of the greatest blessings of being human. For some, this will mean starting over all the time, but is it really starting over? The intentions that you have, with each little effort, grow and grow. How lovely your garden will be with the right amount of time.
Great things are not accomplished overnight. Rather, they require the ability to keep moving in a certain direction, or sometimes are the result of trial and error. Either way, as long as you plant your seeds every single day, you will find in time that you are moving closer and closer to the rewards of your deeds.
As we edge ever closer to a new year, with new promises and goals, remember that this as much a way of making a new start as any, as well as a time to reflect on the year 2008, it's mistakes and rewards alike. How blessed we are for these new starts. And how blessed we are to be able to plant new seeds of which the abundant harvest will be reaped.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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