James Bethel James Bethel

Blue desires . . .

It’s the Moon’s day … and it will be full of itself this evening as it rises over Ridgway, Colorado at 5 p.m. Mountain Time.

It turns out that life doesn’t need a purpose to simply be what it is. Does a tree need to find its purpose to grow? Does the wind need a reason to blow? — Santiago Santai Jiménez

Today is the birthday of Lorrie Moore. The writer, critic, and essayist was born on this day in 1957 Glen Falls, New  York.  

One of the most popular American authors in the last 30 years of the 19th century, Horatio Alger, was born on this day in 1832, Chelsea, Mass. He was perhaps the most socially influential American writer of his generation.

On this day in 2021, Donald J. Trump became the first U.S. president to be impeached twice, after the House of Representatives approved an article of impeachment that accused him of “incitement of insurrection” for allegedly encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

And today in 1968, singer and songwriter Johnny Cash recorded the album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison in front of an audience of some 2,000 inmates at California's Folsom Prison.

What Momma said: Playing with guns can turn you blue, among other things you don’t want.

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James Bethel James Bethel

Be cause . . .

Sunday, January 12, 2025. It’s Sol’s day … and the mailbox here in Ridgway is snow filled, as are the skies. At 5 degrees, all is still.

Inner wisdom is persistent, but quiet. Always whispering, but never stops knocking at your door. — Vironika Tugaleva (also known as Vironika Wilde)

Today is the the 161st birth anniversary of the East Indian visionary Swami Vivekananda

In 1949, the novelist Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood)  was born on this day in Kyoto, Japan.

And the author of Call of the Wild, Jack London, was born in 1876 San Francisco, California.

The Sunday Sermon

After Newtonian physics emerged, most people thought efficient causes were the only way that things could happen, such as strong arms causing a rock to be dislodged from a field, but the kind of cause that especially intrigued me was the exemplary cause. With that kind of causality, someone or some event, just by being what it is, by being an example or model, “causes” other things to happen as a result. — Fr. Richard Rohr, “Meditation,” Center for Action and Mediation.

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James Bethel James Bethel

Snowcovered awesomeness

It’s the Satyr’s day. . .as beautiful a morning as only a Winter in Colorado can be: snow covered awesomeness.

Grateful living is the awareness that we stand on holy ground—always—in touch with Mystery. — David Stendl-Rast

How do you speak about that which is unspeakable? (…) with tears flowing at rates we can’t even imagine - the spirit of Los Angeles will pull people through this awful, agonizing hour. It is the City of Angels, after all.— Marianne Williamson

Post Pan's Pipe

It's taken a good while

for us to come around 

to the full recognition

that no one knows

what's going on anymore

if they ever did.

There is a touch of clarity

though, in that

home is really a long way

from wherever it is we are.

Which brings us to

the next step.

Mind the wind, 

but follow the way

of The Way.

— jab

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