This may be review for some and not for others. love, Larry
Comment received: Reading much of this on global warming and all the other negative realities is plain depressing ....
Sharing my two private replies one after the other:
1. Yes, it can be a struggle to avoid getting depressed over all the big problems. I don't agree with calling them negative realities, though. I mean what's the point? Despite what some say, I am of the opinion that it is unreasonable, really, for a full grown adult, to live in total denial of problems that really are affecting her or him every day. For one thing, Barbara Ehrenreich said so in another classic book. It is not that one has to think about each and every problem each and every day.
There are a number of resources, quite different one from another, that you could possibly find useful in maintaining your active and positive self, that might supplement the tools you already use. Some are major works, major people. I have been through all of these things, remind myself of some of them from time to time, and recommend them for your consideration. These links are all from down along the right side of my blog pages, "sources, selected posts." Obviously the idea is they're supposed to help. In no particular order:
http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2013/06/sent-6213-get-apocalyptic-why-radical.html
http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2013/05/sent-5513-eyes-wide-open-hope.html
http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2013/05/sent-12212-major-i-like-myself.html
http://www.carolynbaker.net/
Carolyn Baker is last but not least. I think I have more or less absorbed her but now don't think about her much. Over time I have spent significant time with her on line. She become another personal friend of mine. She sent me a copy of her latest book. I promised her I'd read it but haven't managed to get very far yet. I think it is probably great, but, having read other books and materials of hers, I think I've got the idea already. She is doing her thing, being a professional therapist. I am doing a rather different thing, though I have shared her with others, am sharing her with you, and will be talking more about her again in the future.
2. Barbara Ehrenreich starts out that book with the true story of her having been a cancer patient hanging out with a group of other cancer patients--all saying "Think positive." You've probably heard that that's the common cancer patient mantra. According to Barbara Ehrenreich she saved her own life, yes with some assistance, by paying attention, studying hard for herself, and taking charge of her own treatment. She watched as others died while relying totally upon their doctors to take care of them while they were engaged in thinking positive. Barbara Ehrenreich believes in having some fun, I am sure, but she thinks that one can work on difficult problems without getting overwhelmed to the point of giving up. That's my notion also. Larry
On 3/18/2014 12:28 AM, Larry Scott
wrote:
http://vimeo.com/74755473--
one (1) minute
The Peace of Wild Things-------------------------
By Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
You might remember this wonderful 39 min 39 sec Bill Moyers video with Wendell Barry.
http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2013/10/sent-101213-my-hero-wendell-berry-on.html
Larry
http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com
"undisclosed recipients" email message archive, no logging in, no public comments
The concept that
people wearing suits all think the same way is TOTALLY false,
not even remotely true except for the bare concept of wearing
a suit sometimes. Remember for example Alfred
Korzybski, who sometimes wore a suit and thought
differently from everyone else at the time, both at once. The
fact that there are billions of different true stories that
no one could invent is sometimes a difficult concept, or so
I find.
