The Light of Taylor Swift
Appropriately, it's Freya's day . . .
The miracle of Hanukkah isn't only that the oil that should have lasted for one night lasted for eight. It's that someone looked at that bit of oil and lit it anyway, for those who needed to see it shine. – Mark Hetfield
What does Keven McCarthy's resignation mean for the flow of the Potomac?
Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch? – Heather Cox Richardson.
At a convention of union leaders in Columbus, Ohio on this day in 1886, the American Federation of Labor was founded.
"The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. You can't weigh the soul of a man with a bar of pig iron." -- Samuel Gompers
Taylor Swift is not swimming against the stream. To the contrary, Time Magazine's Person of the Year, is clearly in the flow of The Way, navigating by her own North Star. The farther righters just don't seem to get it.
The mystic is not a special human being – every human being is a special kind of mystic. – David Steindl-Rast.
History is beyond the words creating it…
It's Thor's day . . .
On this day in 1941, Japanese bombers launched a surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, precipitating the entry of the United States into World War II.
Today is also the day in 1941 that Adolf Hitler issued his Night and Fog Decree, a secret order for the arrest and execution of “persons endangering German security.”
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Santayana's aphorism assumes humans are capable of reason in the face of history. History itself, however, seems to indicate otherwise.
It's Willa Cather’s birthdate. The author was born near Winchester, Virginia today in1873.
"Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years." – Willa Cather, O Pioneers! Vintage, 1991 (first published in 1913).
All In the Family . . .
Sad news and glad news filled this Odin's day's mailbox . . .
Norman Lear died yesterday.
Acknowledging and approaching what is hidden in ourselves is one of the most powerful things we can do. – David Whyte
Freed from grasping, sufficiency and abundance are the same circumstance. Lynne Twist is the author of the bestselling book, “The Soul of Money,” revealed some of her discoveries of “the hidden” in a recent (April 2023) conversation recorded by Marie Forleo. Long but worthy. IMO not to be missed.
Our bribe-dominated Supreme Court is about ready to give a Christmas Gift to themselves and the rest of the 1%. Tax policy? Boring until you read Heather Cox Richardsons' recent report.
Does “tapping” (emotional freedom technique) really work? In a word: Yes. If you've not seen it, check out the documentary.
To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe — to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it — is a wonder beyond words. – Joanna Macy
The world presents itself in two ways . . . The world as a thing I own, the world as a mystery I face. What I own is a trifle, what I face is sublime. I am careful not to waste what I own; I must learn not to miss what I face . . . All we have is a sense of awe and radical amazement in the face of a mystery that staggers our ability to sense it…. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe. – Richard Rohr
Mystery
A Great Mystery unfolds
from the eternal infinite
into this manifesting world . . .
just as silence contains the bird song
just so does the light fill the darkness
...and we awaken.
— jb