Times, they are a-changin' ...
Despite the foggy start to the day, Sol is on the forecasters' charts for OkieLand later today and all week. The mailbox held notices of paradigms shifters and shifting:
Several birthdays among the shifters:
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was published on this day in 1813.
Colette, perhaps the most beloved French writer of all time, was born today in the 1873 village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Burgundy
Sculptor Claes Oldenburg was born in 1929 Stockholm.
It's the birth date of Jackson Pollock. The Abstract Expressionist painter was born in 1912 Cody, Wyoming.
Mikhail Baryshnikov is 78 years old today. The Soviet-born American preeminent ballet dancer and actor was born in 1948 Riga , Latvia, U.S.S.R.
It was today in 1986 that Challenger exploded, shortly after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida claiming the lives of seven astronauts – among them was Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first school teacher in space. The disaster investigation resulted in a complete restructuring of NASA and its procedures.
Thomas Kuhn’s book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions introduced the term “paradigm shift.” A paradigm is a set of beliefs, stories, images, concepts, and structures that govern the way we think about something. When a previous paradigm becomes so full of holes and patchwork “fixes” a complete overhaul occurs. The shift in thinking which might have felt threatening at one time now appears as the only way forward and as a real lifeline.
Another of these critical junctures appears to be underway these days. We are confronted with a conceptual shift brought about by advances in Quantum Physics, philosophy of science and philosophy in general by an apparent embrace of “non-duality.” Such paradigm shifts are always followed by “reframing stories.”
“The Way” is in and out there. But it is not a there. There is no there, there. – Gertrude Stein
Mozart twas brillig . . .
It's a cold, rainy frabus Satyr's day morning in TulseyTown. In the mailbox:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born 268 years ago on this date. The composer/pianist was in 1756 Salzburg, Austria.
It's the 192nd anniversary of Lewis Carroll's birth. The author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass was born today in 1832 Cheshire, England.
And, today is the birth date of Jerome Kern. The broadway and film composer was born in 1885 New York City. His Show Boat (with libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II) inaugurated the serious musical play in U.S. theatre.
They used to say we're living on borrowed time...who loaned it to us?
...say it is an unknown benefactor who gave us birds and Mozart,
the mystery of trees and water. – Jim Harrison
Equinimity, duality, reality . . .
Today is Freya's day...and it's still foggy/rainy in Okieland …the mailbox this morning held notes regarding our human attempts at clearing our self-made fog. Perhaps Douglas MacArthur, Ellen DeGeneres, Jon Stewart, Allan Watts and Richard Rohr have this in common. Read on . . .
Its the birth date of Douglas MacArthur. The WWII General was born on this date in 1880 Little Rock, Arkansas
Ellen DeGeneres celebrates her 66th birthday today. The comedienne was born today in 1958 Metairie, Louisiana
And, In case you missed it … Jon Stewart is returning to the Daily Show.
Now for Alan Watts . . . By reducing religion to propositions, and testing the faithful on their scriptural knowledge – how can you be a Christian if Richard Dawkins quotes the Bible better than you do? … our contemporary conversations about culture and religion often seem ruled by ‘oughts’ – intellectual, moral and political. From Watts [and Franciscan Richard Rohr], we learn that desire may be the royal road to truly experiencing reality as gift, of the most recklessly generous kind…Either everything is religious, or nothing is: this [is their] message, and it may be the only basis on which people will consider religion worth bothering with beyond the 2020s. == Christopher Harding, “On knowing who he was,” in Aeon online, January 26, 2024.
Watts, BTW, would be 109 years old this month. He was born on January 6, 1915 in the countryside near London, England.
The challenge of equanimity in the face of duality. – – Alex Worsnip writing in Aeon.
Aim to "add in," not "fit in." Belonging in the workplace, sustainably promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and opportunity— and why you should.
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. – General Douglas MacArthur