Resisting persistent resistance

In Tew's day's mailbox . . .

On this date in1897 Jack London sailed from San Francisco, on his way to the Klondike. Garrison Keillor posted a good summary of the 21-year-old novelist's journey (along with several other landmarks on this date).

. . . what we need isn’t willpower; we need the power to surrender the will and to trust what is. . .if we start with negative energy, a “don’t,” we won’t get very far. . .We know the old shibboleth, “Don’t think of an elephant.” If we try not to, that dang elephant invariably sneaks back into our minds! Just wait. To actively oppose something actually engages with it and gives it energy. Our first energy has to be “yes” energy. From there we can move, build, and proceed. We must choose the positive, which is to choose love, and rest there for a minimum of fifteen conscious seconds—it takes that long for positivity to imprint in the neurons. – Richard Rohr

This is the first time in history that publicly acknowledging that you follow two or more distinct spiritual traditions would not have you burned at the stake, stoned to death, or facing a firing squad. We tend to forget what an extraordinary time this is, that for the first time in history we have the entirety of the world's spiritual and religious traditions available to us, and we can practice them without fear. – Roger Walsh cited by Rob Brezsney today. See Walsh's bio here.

Contraadiction

for Louise Glück

We are alive and we are dead.

Not being and being,

Doing and forgetting,

We are less being and more dead.

Dying we do less and less until

All that’s left is being.

Beauty we take with us.

— jb in my collection “An Ark of Bricks”