Head-dibs

The unrest of the forest became evident at the turn off the main road. Thistles thrust their purple crown through the piles of snow-white blackberry vines, thorn to thorn battling for precious ground. Young pines surrounded the massive trunk of a long-dead oak tree in the pasture, taunting the old pine across the road who, leaning in his old age, eyed the place he would eventually fall with no one to help him up again. There is no withstanding their sluggish ambush. The old pond waits patiently for ducks, quietly knitting water lilies and nursing tadpoles from the mud. Walking through a cloud of gnats and fairies it's difficult to tell which is which by taste. One is confident, however, that fairies tickle the nose and ears while gnats really don't put up a fight. None are eaten on purpose and neither tastes like chicken. The mottled road is quiet around the second turn, away from the weedeaters and tillers hard at work trimming and turning over the yard. Back at the ...

"For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation." (Psalm 62)

My heart turns violently inside of my chest

Tenebrae (/ˈtɛnəbreɪ, -bri/—Latin for "darkness") is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter, and characterized by gradual extinguishing of candles, and by a "strepitus" or "loud noise" taking place in total darkness near the end of the service.

Robert Shepherd, Jr. and James Wilson, (a.k.a. "Alabama" and "Tennessee"), founders of Hootenanny, are the 2019 Academy of Engineering and Engineering Technology inductees and valued alumni at LeTourneau University. "Alabama" and "Tennessee" not doing a very good job at keeping a straight face.  Dad (standing) graduated in '66 with a B.S. in Welding Engineering then joined the faculty as a Welding Instructor. He served as Trustee at LeTourneau College and was a founder of the Welding Alumni Organization. Recognized as Distinguished Alumnus in 2003 and Materials Joining Alumnus in 2009, he also serves a Chairman of The Board of Four Corners Welding and Gas Supply, based in Gallup, New Mexico, which he started with his wife in 1983. Dad serves in his local community as Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Director of Economic Development. Dad and Uncle Bob enjoy blacksmithing in their spare time. 

Springtime gives me no blooming choice. I'm convinced that allergies are like people: they exist to test your philosophy.  "But I have been consigned, so to speak, to one special ailment. I do not know why I should call it by its Greek name; for it is well enough described as “shortness of breath.” Its attack is of very brief duration, like that of a squall at sea; it usually ends within an hour. Who indeed could breathe his last for long? I have passed through all the ills and dangers of the flesh, but nothing seems to me more troublesome than this. And naturally so; for anything else may be called illness, but this is a sort of continued “last gasp.” Hence physicians call it “practicing how to die.” (Seneca, Moral Letter 54, On Asthma and Death) "If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining,” he said. “If it’s unendurable . . . then stop complaining." (Marcus Aurelius)

"Drama, combat, terror, numbness and subservience--every day these things wipe out your sacred principles whenever your mind entertains them uncritically or lets them slip in." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations) Uninvited guests might arrive at your home but you don't have to ask them to stay for dinner.

It's an old word, "affectation." We would say simply, "fake." Designed to impress. Don't put up a false front in what you do, what you say, even how you say it. You were created a certain way to fulfill a specific purpose. Your purpose is not to be artificial. Posing gets you nowhere. Don't try to be brilliant because you really don't know. Don't try to be popular because you are not. Don't try to be magnetic or impose yourself on others. No two people are alike so there is no need to be like someone else. There is something better, with that in mind. God never intended us to be someone else. " . . . the first and greatest task of the philosopher is to test and separate appearances, and to act on nothing that is untested." (Epictetus)

Withhold. Impose forbearance. Refrain. You don't have to. Want to test your will-power? Deny yourself something meaningful. Ceasing the small stuff is easy. Holding off something precious can be painful. Abstinence does not mean to quit, as in changing habits, but abstinence might lead to it. Abstinence can be a useful tool. It can be a way to prepare for hardship, in parting with something comfortable for a while. Try missing a meal. Or two meals. Or a whole day's worth of meals. Try taking a cold shower, or going out in the cold without a coat. Other people do it. Daily. So now you have to ask yourself: what do those people have that I do not? This is what abstinence will reveal.

Wilson does not get the recognition he deserves as his music is pure genius.

Ever heard the term, "use it or lose it"? What better way to underscore the essence of "ability."  One might say "ability" is talent, skill, a possession of means toward an accomplishment. Another might say "ability" is an art or a power, which perhaps might be a better understanding of the sense. "Ability" stands as a virtue because it is a gateway to virtues. It is the intentional use of all faculties, everything that goes into making worthwhile attributes.  "Ability" is the art of improvement, accomplishment, the bed-rock of progress.  "Inability," in contrast, reveals the condition of disuse, an "uncondition" as it were. Inability is powerlessness, ignorance, ineptitude. You are able to do good. Inability to do good is a choice. 

A few days ago there was posted a list of Seven Tenets of Stoicism, the first of which was to seek  "summum bonum" or "the highest good," summed into word, "virtue." How does one seek to be virtuous except through philosophy, the love of wisdom? While it may not be possible to compile an exhaustive list of virtues, one may be able to catalog, think on and reflect on those he finds through wisdom-study. Moral Philosophy is an ideal realm to explore for virtues. As much as possible over the next few days, weeks, perhaps months, we will fill an undetermined number of blog posts related to the nurture of our personal "summum bonum," with the view of making a contribution to the people in our lives and the world in which we live. 

"When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?" - The Enchiridion by Epictetus, XXXV

This is no joke. History confirms it! "In all the kingdom of nature, does any creature threaten us less than the gentle rabbit? Though the question may sound entirely rhetorical today, our medieval ancestors took it more seriously — especially if they could read illuminated manuscripts, and even more so if they drew in the margins of those manuscripts themselves. "Often, in medieval manuscripts’ marginalia we find odd images with all sorts of monsters, half man-beasts, monkeys, and more," writes Sexy Codicology's Marjolein de Vos. "Even in religious books the margins sometimes have drawings that simply are making fun of monks, nuns and bishops." And then there are the killer bunnies." Read more (and watch a classic video clip) here.