Wisdom of Ages

Perspective isn't something we think about often, but its easy if you consider things from a shared point of view. Like the way art lovers stand around in front of gallery paintings with a squint eye and thumb in the air.

I suppose it  makes sense that a lack of oxygen would dull your senses, but as a child with asthma, the only thing that I knew was droll. Never much to play, never much to perform, never much to notice at all, but when you wanted me I was always there, smiling in my oxygen deprived reality. I used to sit in trees a lot. My mother tells the story how I hid away in the branches of our backyard tree, but in my mind I was sitting there, grateful for the chance to climb above the struggle of moving over ground. Happy to sit there in my happiness to breathe. I'm still somebody that finds happiness in small things. I get captivated by beauty, and I'm easily enthralled. I have a deep appreciation of the growth and development that is possible if you can get over the struggle to take a deep breath and just do it, and I still to this day hate people that don't. Though hate is an emotion I only had to confront much later in my life... To me, making the most of it is not only a way t...

To this day I still cannot remember much from my childhood. Memory being what it is, that could either mean that it was uneventful boring, uneventful horrific, or uneventful happy. Uneventful boring would either have meant that I had some kind of childhood malaise that prevented me from exploring the world like my body was designed, or my environment gave me so little to explore that my mind found muchness in things that amuse it, because that is the way it was designed to do. Our environment abound to fascinate and enthrall, to captivate in natures radiant beauty and blind us in awe of existence. I can understand that in some children the beauty in nature can be the allure to lead them wandering off into the sunset, following the promise of a dream that's better than the one we left behind. According to the elder in my care I was a dreamer, staring off to space and making never-ever journeys to never-never land, and though it sounds like kinda fun to leave it just like that,...

If we go according to the King James version of the Bible, the Garden of Eden had a lot of trees. According to Genesis 2:9: “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” After the creation of Adam, God told him: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” About the tree of life God doesn’t say anything, at least not according to the book. That does not mean that the Tree of Life was any less verboten than the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, far from it! When God banishes his new creations from Eden and curse them “till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”, He “drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming s...

It minds me this morning that nature is truly wonderful in the way she is plentiful in how wonderful she is. I remember one day, while helping a friend in need I grasped at the need to explain the wisdom I then entertained in my mind. Dear friend that he is I still struggle sometime to find the right frame of mind to translate what I think to what I say. Grasping at air to find some sense I suddenly did and I said: Sometime you need to listen my friend, Listen and hear what is said hear what the voices from far try to tell you, And listen, for they are our friends. Or something like that, but this is what I meant. It is Nature that bares us her soul, and free unbound let us humans pride in deed, in need and what we hold. In deed in debt would plenty say but neigh, a mothers love could never say or neigh her brethren cold. [I’m impressed! The spellchecker can actually keep up to date with things forgot, neigh her brethren cold?] The point I am trying to make is that we shou...

The first is where we act and react, where our thoughts are engaged in whatever we are busy with, and where those thought patterns dictate our actions in and reactions to the moment in which we find ourselves. It translates to a viewpoint that you are the master of your destiny, and relies on the presumption that you can achieve anything if you equip yourself with the right tools. Every moment is an opportunity to establish dominance and ensure survival. The next is where we wonder and ponder about the meaning of it all. Where we start to think of greater impact and consequence, and where we view the first world in constant review, trying to explain the first world in terms of communal value. Our actions do not only take into account our first world experience, but are calculated to achieve a wider consequence. In this paradigm we try to influence events towards a wider communal result, and it translates to an understanding that we are all connected, and that our actions have cons...

Luke 14:26 26 ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. A friend and me was just discussing the issue of the Bible, and in an effort to discover the original person that decided what will and will not be part of the book of love... I surf across this quote, grouped together with eleven others as illustration of the proclaimed fact that the Bible does not inspire or teach anything of value. The conclusion they reach is this: "So we are forced to ask a question: Why doesn't a book written by God leave you with a sense of wonder and amazement? If you are reading a book written by the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving creator of the universe, wouldn't you expect to be stunned by the brilliance, the clarity and the wisdom of the author? Would you not expect each new page to intoxicate you with its incredible prose and its spectacular insight?" Fact is... the...

Many of you will remember some experience where you were engaged in an activity, and in the blink of an eye it seemed as if hours had elapsed. This experience is referred to as being in the flow, and also described as optimal experience. Experiences such as these are therefore frequently remembered as the best time of our life, simply because the activity engages all of our senses to their maximum. This probably explains why the phenomenon has been the cause of so much discussion and scientific experimentation. One of these experiments aimed to examine the different user experiences that facilitate the occurrence of flow, or in other words, to determine environmental switches that would cause flow. The person who conducted some of these experiments is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and according to his observations the experience of flow would most likely occur due to the following environmental triggers: Challenge and require skill Concentrate and avoid interruption Maintain control ...

Nirvana or heaven as some would call it is an interesting concept. Have you ever asked yourself to imagine such a place? For many I do believe it is described as a place of absence. A place where there is no more pain and suffering. Where there are no bosses or beggars, no credit or taxes, and certainly no worries and fears. In the minds of other the concept may be expressed by abundance. Where there is lots of money and love, children by the dozen or peace, and even wisdom and happiness. In medicine there is a principle called, assuming the sick role, and it is a valuable skill to be able to identify with your patient. Without this skill a physician may easily advise his patient complaining of a runny nose to blow it! In essence it allows us to place a value on something that is not our own. Unfortunately the value of the skill is limited by our own values and prejudice, but it is none the less important to assess the disease in children. Of what importance is a runny nose t...

To twine is part of the design for this be thus in time till challenged by a mind that sows a seed sublime And thus we learn and grow in life on life until the next Reaping what we know and what we feel is best The choice be free to take and make a twine to last But know that in a wake a change could be that's vast And thus we learn and know in life to life, until the best of twines combine to grow Till at the last there is no next

Wisdom is not the exclusive domain of the Master... It can be found in every second of every day. For the wise are those that know That wisdom flows from the mastery of living.

Which just about sums up everything... just about. While driving home one afternoon I chanced on a thought: If one considers the Taoist principle that our journey called life is nothing less but opportunities for learning, and chances for healing the suffering caused by social conditioning... Healing=Learning I do believe I know what that means. This day has been a journey of frustration and total disbelief in the cruelty of man to man all the way through to absolute bliss. It has been another day of healing. For if you do every moment without remorse you will find that the journey is a breeze. A gentle one with fresh of sea and playful sand on wind. Where pain on your path is nothing more than a gentle warning that the life in shells underfoot are as you, a player in the symphony called life. A symphony where you and me have different instruments to play, and when we do in harmony the sound we add play sweetest melodies of serendipity. Like the designer Gauteng number-plate on the ca...