Only time for loving.
May 17, 2019
Mark Twain, looking back on his life:
“There isn’t time so brief is life for bickering, apologies, heart-burnings, calling to account there is only time for loving, but in an instant, so to speak, for that.” [1910]
Rilke:
“Brother body is poor…that means we must be rich for him.
He was often the rich one; so may he be forgiven
for the meanness of his wretched moments.
Then, when he acts as though he barely knows us,
may he be gently reminded of all that has been shared.
Of course, we are not one but two solitaries:
our consciousness and he.
But how much we have to thank each other for,
as friends do! And illness reminds us:
friendship demands a lot.” [Written between 1908 and 1923.]
Thomas Merton (insert medium of choice):
“I am certainly no judge of television, since I have never watched it. All I know is that there is a sufficiently general agreement, among men whose judgement I respect, that commercial television is degraded, meretricious, and absurd. Certainly, it would seem that TV could become a kind of unnatural surrogate for contemplation: a completely inert subjection to vulgar images, a descent to a sub-natural passivity rather than an ascent to a supremely active passivity in understanding and love. It would seem that television should be used with extreme care and discrimination by anyone who might hope to take interior life seriously. [1961]
75-Year Study: “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.”
Maria Popova/BrainPickings
“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”
Bertrand Russell
“The Study of Adult Development at the Harvard Medical School, better known as the Grant Study — the longest-running study of human happiness. Beginning in 1938 as a counterpoint to the disease model of medicine, the ongoing research set out to illuminate the conditions that enhance wellbeing by following the lives of 268 healthy sophomores from the Harvard classes between 1939 and 1944. It was a project revolutionary in both ambition and impact, nothing like it done before or since.
[…]
Little progress had been made since Walt Whitman’s prescient case for the grossly underserved human factors in healthcare and the question of what makes for a good life was cautiously left to philosophy. It’s hard for the modern mind to grasp just how daring it was for physicians to attempt to address it.
But that’s precisely what the Harvard team did. There are, of course, glaring limitations to the study — ones that tell the lamentable story of our cultural history: the original subjects were privileged white men. Nonetheless, the findings furnish invaluable insight into the core dimensions of human happiness and life satisfaction: who lives to ninety and why, what predicts self-actualization and career success, how the interplay of nature and nurture shapes who we become.”
“In this illuminating TED talk, Harvard psychologist and Grant Study director Robert Waldinger — the latest of four generations of scientists working on the project — shares what this unprecedented study has revealed, with the unflinching solidity of 75 years of data, about the building blocks of happiness, longevity, and the meaningful life.”
#2020
“This campaign to establish a U.S. Department of Peace is the first step in dismantling our systemically entrenched perpetuation of violence. And it is critical.” -Marianne Williamson
Dialogue, Common Sense, and We the People
Idaho Matters/Fri. May 17th: deep & necessary dialogue dive on civil discourse with Keith Allred, ED for the Institute, advisory board members Walt Minnick & former Gov. Butch Otter. If you missed it, listen tonight at 8, or follow audio links.
Today, the Institute is creating 50 advisory boards to be positioned in each state. Idaho is the first state to establish such a board.
https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/friday-may-17-2019-edition-idaho-matters … @KBSX915
Forner Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, right, joins with Keith Allred, center, and Walt Minnick in a campaign to bring civil discourse back to politics in Idaho. Photo:
“Joining forces to tackle the incivility and partisanship plaguing national politics.”
Idaho Statesman
Tired of political incivility? So are Butch Otter & Walt Minnick, and they hope you can help
Keith Allred , who challenged Butch Otter for governor in the 2010 election, is the new director of The National Institute for Civil Discourse, which was formed following the 2011 shooting of then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. The organization’s mission addressing the incivility and dysfunction in American life, and repairing American democracy.
“Part of what has gone wrong, as the parties become more polarized, is they are not picking issues in D.C. right now for the sake of solving them, they are trying to find the best club to beat up on each other with,” Allred said.
“If we are holding our breath waiting for the two parties to solve this current civility crisis, we are going to be disappointed,” he added.
Allred sees the solution: The American people to step up.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article230399129.html
“An unprecedented partisan rift between the major political parties makes our efforts to move past partisanship more important than ever.”
For general interest and to get involved individually, or as community, follow the link: https://www.commonsenseamerican.org
And still we rise. Everyday. We must.
Miss Alice Smith, Miss S. J. de Crasse and Miss G. H. Halleran selling the Suffragist in Boston.
#2020
It’s time.
