cool quotes

[johan777]

"This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people."

C S Lewis

 

[freespirit2001]

"The nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are mulititudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness."

---A.W. Pink

"I am tempted to think that I am now an established Christian,---that I have overcome this or that lust so long,---that I have got into the habit of the opposite grace,---so that there is no fear; I may venture very near the temptation---nearer than other men. This is a lie of Satan. One might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit of resisting fire, so as not to catch spark. As long as powder is wet, it resists the spark; but when it becomes dry, it is ready to explode at the first touch. As long as the Spirit dwells in my heart, He deadens me to sin, so that if lawfully called through temptation, I may reckon upon God carrying me through. But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder. Oh for a sense of this!"

Robert M M'Cheyne

 

[freespirit2001]

ODE

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
- Arthur O'Shaughnessy

Loved this earlier one, tulc!

 

[JPPT1974]

We are the champions my friend!!
And we'll keep on fighting until the end!!

 

[vrunca]

"A person is a person no matter how small".....Dr. Seuss

 

[freespirit2001]

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call...The Twilight Zone.
-R. Serling - The Twilight Zone

I have to laugh again, tulc!!!

 

[nadroj1985]

No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve in quality as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing it is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.

~Alan Watts

 

[tulc]

God's goal is not to make sure you're happy. Life is not about your being
comfortable, happy, successful and pain free. It is about becoming the man
God has called you to be. Life is not about you. It's about God. He doesn't
exist to make us happy. We exist to bring Him glory.
-Chuck Swindoll

 

[psalms 91]

gods will is that all men be saved

 

[Believer-in-Christ]

"So what if they grow older and resent me, and how my choices impacted their youth? Why weren't we given an average childhood like all the other kids, they might ask? And at that moment I pray that my children will give me the benefit of the doubt. That they will say to themselves: "Our daddy did the best he could, given the unique circumstances that he faced. He may not have been perfect, but he was a warm and decent man, who tried to give us all the love in the world."" ~ Michael Jackson

 

[freespirit2001]

ECLIPSE

ALL THAT YOU TOUCH
ALL THAT YOU SEE
ALL THAT YOU TASTE
ALL THAT YOU FEEL
ALL THAT YOU LOVE
ALL THAT YOU HATE
ALL YOU DISTRUST
ALL YOU SAVE
ALL THAT YOU GIVE
ALL THAT YOU DEAL
ALL THAT YOU BUY, BEG, BORROW OR STEAL
ALL YOU CREATE
ALL YOU DESTROY
ALL THAT YOU DO
ALL THAT YOU SAY
ALL THAT YOU EAT
EVERYONE YOU MEET
ALL THAT YOU SLIGHT
EVERYONE YOU FIGHT
ALL THAT IS NOW
ALL THAT IS GONE
ALL THA'S TO COME
AND EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN
IS IN TUNE
BUT THE SUN IS ECLIPSED BY THE MOON.

pink floyd Dark Side of the Moon

 

[freespirit2001]

THE BATTLE WITH DEATH

[Young Nachiketas went to Death:
He bargained with the Monarch Grim
For Knowledge, as the Katha saith,
And death revelaed the Soul to him:
And all who learns with the fearless lad
Hath all that Nachiketas had.]

"From that the sun and moon arise
They set in that again:
from that are stars and seas and skies,
And trees and beasts and men:
And that of soul and
This of sense
Hath in them naught of difference.

All that is here
The same is there
All that is there is here:

There is no difference anywhere.
The one doth all appear;
from death to death he goes who sees
Differences or degrees.

That which is told of
That thou art,
There is no other sprite:
No heaven nor earth nor middle part,
There is no day or night;
There is no beauty, truth or wit
But that alone, and thou art it.

He dreameth---I am moon and sun,
I am the earth and sea.
I am the strife, the lost, the won,
I am variety.

He dreameth this and that and thou,
In past and future time and now.
He is the dreamer and the dream.
He is the frightened and the fear.
He is the hope, the gloom, the gleam.
He is the season and the year:
...not this is he,
Nor that
Nor you,
He is thyself, and thou art one.

He will not be obtained by speech,
Not by the mind, the ear, the eye:
He cometh in his time to each
Who affirms courageously:
Thou art, he is, and that is all
That may be told, or can befall.

Fast not nor pray, but only know
He is, I am:
And all is done:
The deed of time is finished---Lo!
Thyself to thine own self is won:
Thou shalt not seek nor have reply
For thou art that in blink of eye.

Thou knewest all, 'twas hid within
Thy memory: if thou should'st mind
That which thou were not
Death or sin
Can conquer thee again, nor bind
Thine action, nor make thee to seem

A Dreamer living in a Dream."




James Stephen From:The Katha, Upanisads

 

[tulc]

"The first thing that must strike a non-Christian about a Christian's faith
is that it is all too daring. It is too beautiful to be true: The mystery of
being, unveiled as absolute love, coming down to wash the feet and the souls
of its creatures; a love that assumes the whole burden of our guilt and
hate, that accepts the accusations that shower down.. all the scorn and
contempt that nails down his incomprehensible movement of self-abasement --
all this absolute love accepts in order to excuse his creature before
himself......"
-Hans Urs von Balthasar

 

[freespirit2001]

THE PRIEST

The priest sat in the airport bar
He was wearing his father's tie
And his eyes looked into my eyes so far
Whenever the words ran dry
Behind the lash and the circles blue
He looked as only a priest can, thru
And his eyes said to me and his eyes said to you
And my eyes said, let us try
He said, "You wouldn't like it here
No it's no place you should share
The roof is ripped with hurricanes
And the room is always bare
I need the wind and I seek the cold";
He reached past the wine for my hand to hold
And he saw me young and he saw me old
And he saw me sitting there
Then he took his contradictions out
And he splashed them on my brow
So which words was I then to doubt
When choosing what to vow
Should I choose them all-should I make them mine
The sermons, the hymns, the valentines
And he asked for truth and he asked for time
And he asked for only now
Now the trials are trumpet scored
Oh will we pass the test
Or just as one loves more and more
Will one love less and less
Oh come let's run from this ring we're in
Where the Christians clap and the Germans grin
Saying let them lose, crying let them win
Oh make them both confess

Joni Mitchell The Priest Lyrics; Ladies of ther Canyon Album

 

[tulc]

Crist dom imdegail indiu
ar neim, ar loscud, ar bádud, ar guin,
condom-thair ilar fochraicce.
Críst limm, Críst reum,
Críst im degaid,
Críst indium, Críst ísum,
Críst uasum,
Críst desum, Críst tuathum,
Críst i llius, Críst i sius,
Críst i n-erus,
Críst i cridiu cech duini immumrorda,
Críst i ngin cech oín rodom-labrathar,
Críst i cech rusc nonom-dercathar,
Críst i cech cluais rodom-chloathar.

Christ be with me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ beside me,
Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

 

[freespirit2001]

An amusing thought about the 1600's and the Puritans.

Legacy 3 Thomas Brooks

In all places and company, be sure to carry your soul preservations with you: go into no place or company, except you carry your soul preservations with you, that is, a holy care and wisdom. You know, in infectious times, men carry outward preservations with them; you need to carry your preservationa about you, else you will be in danger of being infected with the ill customs and vanities of the times wherein you live, and that is a third. [In the 17th century it was thought that bad air caused many diseases. People would therefore carry bags of herbs about with them to "preserve" the air.]

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing to one a fragrance from death to death, to another a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?...in the sight of God we speak in Christ."

RSV 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

http://www.puritansermons.com/sermons/brooks1.htm

 

[tulc]

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tommorow, no tommorow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very

Mad world, mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very

Mad world, mad world
-Gary Jules(Mad World)

 

[*Starlight*]

We traveled towards land unknown
Upon the winding path of fate
Uncertainty, our companion
Understanding, our destination
We looked above to the heavens
While fire blazed across the sky
And seared it a brilliant crimson
That quickly faded to gray...
Enchanted mist rained down upon us
Clouding the path with haze
Vertigo sensation rising within
As we hopelessly cling to vespers
And begin to slip away...
Into a vortex of undefined shapes
Trying to grasp
Some shred of reality
A futile endeavor
In this dreamlike world
Infinity's child surrounds
Where the golden chimeras fly
As a phantasmagoria unfolds before our eyes
As we yield to our invigorated senses
The existence we once knew falls away
And we spread our wings for the first time
With unparalleled abandon
We drink in the rich beauty
That lies in the forgotten wisdom
Of this unearthly realm...
It flows into us
As we bathe in the twilight glow
And the secrets of the universe
Are bestowed upon us
In a celestial coronation
As we rotate as one
In harmony with the spheres...

Twilight Odyssey
by Garden of Shadows

 

[tulc]

(warning don't read while drinking anything)
The horror of blimps

Last week while travelling I stopped at a Zany Brainy store and saw that
they had a blimp for sale. It's called Airship Earth, and it's a great big
balloon with a map of the Earth on it, and two propellors hanging from the
bottom. You blow up the balloon with helium put batteries in it, and you
have a radio controll indoor blimp.

I'd seen these things for sale in Sharper Image catalogs for $60-$75. At
Zany Brainy it was on clearance for $15. What a deal!

Last night my wife was playing tennis and it was just my daughter and I at
home. I bought a small helium tank from a party store, and last night we put
the blimp together.

Let me tell you, it's quite a blimp. It's huge. The balloon has like a 3 ft
diameter.

We blew it up with the tank attacched the gondola with the propellors, and
put in batteries.

Then we balanced the blimp for neutral bouyancy with this putty that came
with it, so it hangs in the air by itself neither rising nor falling.

It was easy and fun, and then I blew up another balloon and made Mickey
Mouse helium voices for my daughter.

My three year old girl loved it. We flew the blimp all over the house,
terrorized the dog, attacked the fish tank, and the controls were so easy my
daughter could fly.

Let's face it, blimps are fun.

Alas, the fun had to end and my daughter had to go to sleep. I left the
blimp floating in my office downstairs, my wife came home, and we went to
bed, and slept the sleep of the righteous.

At this point it is important to know that my house has central heating. I
have it configured to blow hot air out on the ground floor and take it in at
the second floor to take advantage of the fact that heat rises.

The blimp which was up until this moment a fun toy here embarked on a career
of evil. Using the artificial convection of my central heating, the blimp
stealthily departed my office. It moved silently through the living and
drifted to the staircase. Gliding wraithlike over the staircase it then
entered the bedroom where my wife and I lay sleeping peacefully.

Running silently, and gliding six feet or so above the ground on invisible
and tiny air currects it approached the bed.

In spite of it's noiseless passage, or perhaps because of it, I awoke. That
doesn't really say it properly. Let me try again.

I awoke, the way you awake at 2:00 AM when your sleeping senses suddenly
tell you without reason that the forces of evil on converging on you.

That still doesn't do it. Let me try one more time.

I awoke the way you awake when you suddenly know that there is a large
levitating sinister presence hovering towards you with menacing intent
through the maligant darkness.

Now sometimes I do wake up in the middle of the night thinking that there
are large sinister and menacing things floating out of the darkness to do me
and mine evil. Usually I open my eyes, look and listen carefully, decide it
was a false alarm, and go back to sleep.

So, the fact that I awoke in such a manner was not all that unusual.

On this occasion I awoke to the sense that there was a large menacing
presence approaching me silently out of the gloom, so I opened my eyes, and
there it was! A LARGE SILENT MENACING PRESENCE WAS APPROACHING ME OUT OF THE
GLOOM, AND IT COULD FLY!!!

Somewhere in the control room of my mind a fat little dwarf in a security
outfit was paging through a Penthouse while smoking a cigar with his feet up
on the table, watching the security monitors of my brain with his peripheral
vision. Suddenly he saw the LARGE SILENT SINSITER MENACING FLOATING PRESENCE
coming at me, and he pulled every panic switch and hit every alarm that my
body has. A full decade's allotment of adrenaline was dumped into my
bloodstream all at once. My metabolism went from "restful sleep mode" to
HOLY ****! FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE OR DIE!!!! mode" in a nanosecond. My heart
went from twenty something beats per minute to about 240 even faster.

I always knew this was going to happen. I always knew that skepticism and
science were mere psychological decorations and vanities. Deep in our
alligator brains we all know that the world is just chock full of evil and
monsters and sinister forces aligned against us, and it is only a matter of
time until they show up. Evolution know this, too. It knows what to do when
the silent terror comes at you from out of the dark.

When 50 million years worth of evolutionary survival instinct hits you all
at once flat in the gut at 200 mph it is not a pleasant sensation.

Without volition I screamed my battle cry (which is indistinguishable to the
sound a little girl makes when you drop a spider down her dress (not that
I'd know what that sounds like,) and lept out of bed in my underwear.

I struck the approaching menace with all my strength and almost fell over at
the total lack of resistance that a helium balloon offers when you punch the
living **** out of it with all the stength that sudden middle of the night
terror produces.

It's trajectory took it straight into the ceiling fan which whipped it about
the room at terrifying velocity.

Seeking a weapon, I ripped the alarm clock out of its plug and hurled it at
the now High Velocity Menacing presence (breaking the clock and putting a
nice hole in the wall.)

Somehow at this moment I suddenly realized that I was fighting the blimp,
and not a monster. It might have been funny if I didn't truly and actually
feel like I was having a legitimate heart-attack.

On quivering legs I went to the bathroom and literally gagged into the
toilet while shaking uncontrollably with the shock of the reaction I'd had.

Unbeleivably, both my wife and daughter had completely slept through the
incident. When I decided that I wasn't having a heart attack after all I
went back into the bedroom and found the blimp which had somehow survived
the incident.

I took it to the walk in closet and released it inside where it floated
around with the air currents released from the vents in there. I closed the
door, this sealing it in, and went back to bed. About 500 years later I fell
asleep.


***

At about 7 am my wife awoke. She had been playing tennis and wasn't aware
that we have assembled the blimp the previous evening, and that is was now
floating around the the walk-in closet that she approached.

The dyndamic between the existing air currents of the closet and the suction
caused by opening the door was just enough to give the blimp the appearance
of an Evil Sinister Menace flying straight towards her.

This time the blimp did not survive the encounter, nor almost, did I, as I
had to explain to my very angry spouse what motivated me to hide an evil
lurking presence in the closet for her to find at 7 am.

I can order replacement balloons on the internet but I don't think I will.

Some blimps are better off dead.
-Scylla

 

[Lost]

Don't wanna lead.
Won't follow.
GO AROUND!

Every time I see this I laugh.