Something Beautiful

Emerson on the stars

Tonight I came across this observation by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches.

One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

Working through sadness

Last week was a difficult one for me, quite full of sadness. Today my grief continues, and I search for a footing, a means of finding my way toward the future. Although it would be inaccurate for me to claim to be religious, I'm nonetheless reminded of these words from St. Paul (Philippians 4:8):

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

That is indeed what we must do: think on the good, the true, the just, the lovely. And so I must redouble my own effort to do so.

Worth listening to

I haven't been able to verify this yet, but earlier today I read the following quote, presumably attributable to e. e. cummings:

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that something deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch.

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

Making the ground green

One of my favorite quotations, from Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) --

The work an unknown good [person] has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.

Loving our country (Cornel West)

In the words of Cornel West --

To understand your country, you must love it. To love it, you must, in a sense, accept it. To accept it as how it is, however is to betray it. To accept your country without betraying it, you must love it for that in it which shows what it might become. America - this monument to the genius of ordinary men and women, this place where hope becomes capacity, this long, halting turn of the no into the yes, needs citizens who love it enough to reimagine and remake it.

(from Unger and West, The Future of American Progressivism, 93, 1998; via Ghost in the Machine)

Knowing our enemies

If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Be yourself (really)

I'm going to put this here because it is something I need to remember --

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

I also like this: "Run your own race."

The prize divides us

I wish I could learn to remember this, to make it really part of me (translated by Thomas Merton) --

When an archer is shooting for nothing 
  He has all his skill.
  If he shoots for a brass buckle
  He is already nervous.
  If he shoots for a prize of gold
  He goes blind
  Or sees two targets--
  He is out of his mind!

    His skill has not changed.  But the prize
  Divides him.  He cares.
  He thinks more of winning
  Than of shooting--
  And the need to win
  Drains him of power.

 

In a similar vein --

No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame;
Nurturing these, how can we calm
Our fluttering heart?

Non attachment brings deep truth,
And a truthful nature brings immortality.

Empty your heart,
Sit quietly on a mat.

In meditation we become one with All;
Tao billows like the vapors
In a mountain valley,
And its supernatural power wafts into our soul.

-- Loy Ching-Yuen (1873-1960)

Our errand

John F. Kennedy:

Every man can make a difference and everyone should try.

Woodrow Wilson:

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. Woodrow Wilson

Write one thing

Terrific advice - for writers and for everyone - at Write to Done. This is a site I want to spend some time at and get to know better!