Thought won't finish this lady.

The expectation is that the head will have a body. That is the thought anyway. Even so no matter how hard "he" thinks about it, "she" the lady half in this rock will never have a body. Thought won't do it. It takes thought and action.

Even so perhaps thoughts really are things since "if the rock was completed it would become what was first thought.

I think?

When you wonder what "body" will emerge from the cube of rock to complete the head already on top it is an example of a point in time when only a thought exists. The thoughts can take form by being revealed as some sculptors claim the do to the rock. On the other hand is the world working from the outside in or the inside out. Did the form of the body to yet be revealed find it’s way into the stone with thought then to find it way back. Guess it did. Guess the lucky one is the one whose thoughts were revealed?

Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow and act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.


Thoughts are things

I hold it true that thoughts are things;
They're endowed with bodies and breath and wing;
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good results, or ill

That which we call our secret thought
Speeds forth to earth's remotest spot,
Leaving its blessings or its woes
Like tracks behind it as it goes.

We build our future, thought by thought,
For good or ill, yet know it not.
Yet, so the universe was wrought
Thought is another name for fate;
Chose, then, thy destiny and wait.

For love brings love and hate brings hate.

Down the lane I walked with her,

I was reading a blog a minute ago and saw the phrase .....“loved the feel of the green grass beneath my feet”. I miss not seeing a lot of green grass. I went out for a run this morning after our walk. I went about as far North as I could on my usual route and turned West. No expectation of green grass. This is “high desert” and it has it’s own natural beauty but green grass is not the norm. This route has some new houses. One house had a small patch of green grass. It was "stunning".

As I travel my running route I can find a "large metal Buffalo", and then "two large metal Horses" up on their hind legs facing each other. Metal Buffalo, A cactus made out of metal does not seem as unusual as the green grass. Actually the Cactus made of metal is a type of cactus that does not grow in New Mexico. It is a more typical Arizona Cactus.

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Thinking back

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I remember a large lot and a small house at the back of the big lot. I was laying on the grass. I remember how big this lot was. My Aunt and Uncle lived next door and down the street too. My Grandmother and Grandfather across the street.

Another Aunt near by. The grass was so green that day. I lived in the little house with my own Mother and Father.

I remember a New Years Day in Millbrea California. It was green grass we laid on that day and looked at the clouds and just laughed at all the snow back home. Then too...........

I remember the large park I grew up across the street from. The green grass and the trees and the river. Then too...........

I remember the difference it seemed as I ran around Liberty Park, in Salt Lake, to other areas. People were walking and skating and and enjoying the warm sun and trees and grass. In this large grassy area it was a different world.

This song is a tearjerker by the way. Makes you wonder if it is heaven where he stepped down from the train. No gold platted streets. Just green grass.



"Green, Green Grass Of Home

TOM JONES LYRICS

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"The old home town looks the same as I step down from the train,

and there to meet me is my Mama and Papa.

Down the road I look and there runs Mary

hair of gold and lips like cherries.

It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.

Yes, they'll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly.

It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.

The old house is still standing tho' the paint is cracked and dry,

and there's that old oak tree I used to play on.

Down the lane I walk with my sweet Mary,

hair of gold and lips like cherries

.It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.

Yes, they'll all come to meet me,

arms reaching, smiling sweetly.

It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.

Then I awake and look around me,

at four grey wall surround me and I realize that I was only dreaming.

For there's a guard and there's a sad old padre

- arm in arm we'll walk at daybreak.

Again I touch the green, green grass of home.

Yes, they'll all come to see me in the shade of that old oak tree

as they lay me neath the green, green grass of home.

Eyes closed, meaning found, blog built, and Plato too

How to build a blog

I was accused of being a Philosopher today. I in some ways find it a compliment. Was it? How one should live is within Philosophy called “ethics”. What sort of things exist and what are their essential natures is called metaphysics.

The metaphysics of this blog is perhaps connected to "why I blog". In a couple of previous posts I went into what process I use to decide on what to post?

Plato said that things exist in a hierarchy. In degrees from things in the world represented by art but progressing toward what he calls a form. He suggests that all things represent a form. Physical things are representations of a conceptual form.

Often I look at the day, my own outlook and concern or interest and see it as a “Form”. I then look for “things” that represent it.

A Johnny Cash movie, a scene from a Ali fight, a song from a play, might for me reflects something that could be part of the "form of something". Courage, tenacity, introspection, perhaps.

Random is indeed specific if tied to a common “form”.

I have found a few blogs that inspire. This may or may not tie to the metaphysics of my own blog but I do like this one. http://professor-howdy.blogspot.com/ The blog is listed as :”Thought and Humor”.

I like the play Phantom of the Opera. I like the phrase, “close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams”. This phrase came from the song "Music of the Night. Perhaps it was Plato’s approach to the “Forms”. Maybe the darkest dreams contained a variety of good “posts.

I have had a lot of changes to “speak” to some small groups over the years. Long before blogs were here the same process helped in digging out what made up thoughts. I often have quoted a line from the fist song of the second act of the play, “Cats”. Love this thought. “We had the experience but missed the meaning.


The “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera

Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation,
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses
Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor,
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender,
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before!
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar!
And you'll live as you've never lived before



“Moments of Happiness” from Cats

The moments of happiness . . .

We had the experience but missed the meaning

And approach to the meaning restores the experience

In a different form, beyond any meaning

We can assign to happiness . .

Random things Ali, Art, and me

Random and Kinda Weird Things about me........................

This is a suggested "tag" for a blog for readers of my favorite blogger. The idea is perhaps to find the off beat unknown and unusual things about me.

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Problem? Yes this may be a problem because if you hang around long enough or read enough of what I may write down I think I in many ways am an "open book".

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That could be #1. I am an open book.

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Then too you have the big hard bound and the small paperback books. I of course prefer to be a big book. Lot's of subjects. You may have to read other chapters to understand the one your reading. (This could indeed be #2)

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I like to have a lot of pictures in my book but I am not sure I want to take up a lot of space in my one big book with pictures, so I am suggesting here that I need a volume 2 and that one will have pictures. It will need some written material and perhaps, no for sure, it will need footnotes referring you to Volume #1. If you only read volume
#1 you may not understand some of the chapters and Volume #1 is not going to tell you to look in #2, On the other hand the cross references to #1 listed in the footnotes of #2 can help so you may want to start out with #2 then read #1 then go back and look at the footnotes. This last thought might be a good list #3

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4. I don't like grudges. I have a few but I try to not have any.

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5. I like a certain secret chocolate cake and a certain chocolate cookie made by my best friend.

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6. I love to have my back rubbed or scratched.

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7. My favorite sport was Jazz at the Delta Center with Mike.

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8. I like church hymns played on the Piano.

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9. This week I like to think about the movie "Walk the Line", I think each time I see this movie which I have lost count of I relate more to the scene in Folsom. Not because of the prison but because the performer seems to me to see himself in his audience.

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10 I like tear jerkers movies sometimes. Peggy Sue (lost count). Somewhere in Time, (ditto)

11. I don't like to just go watch a movie over, unless it is one that I do like to watch over.

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12 Regular popcorn beats the others.

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13 A blue sky, warm weather, and flowers work for me when on a walk with her.

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14. I like my family

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15 The Grandog and Grandcat are cool.

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16 I could think of more. You have to find it in the footnotes in volume 2.

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17. I like Running, Art, and Boxing if Ali is boxing.

Das is how I feel about it all

In some ways today the subject of this blog is blogs. Google is the host of blogger.com and they are doing fine hosting all these free blogs. This last week the stock market hit a high a few times. One day Google gained $17 a share on the news of their strong earnings report. Makes one wonder how the market can hit a high so many times in a week like we just had. Course no one ever said the stock market was about much else than earnings and such. I think I will type this in real small letters like a disclaimer. Sort of like a simple commercial where someone has to ramble on with a disclaimer. Mumbled. Baloney. Hate that by the way.

Then too I ought to mention Johnny Cash. Love to watch the movie and love to see him walk into Folsom and begin to perfom. Tells the boys what they want to hear. Seems to mean it. Course this is a movie but most things are “reflective”. I see in his Folsom performance the portrayal of one seeing himself looking back in the eyes he performs for. I probably ought to have found a way to have made that part ofItems #1 and #5 below.

Kathy said, in her blog a couple of day’s back, that these items below were her some things she had used and used that day in creating her post. Then she said, “btw anyone (BJ) with a blog can do this "tag".

So perhaps,?, with a license now issued I can use items 1 through 6 below myself. Of course all I am using, having been invited, is items 1 through 6 with the first words. Then I will give it a try.

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1. Discuss my daily life – Work has consumed much of my daily life. Being in a sales role, or management role, most of my life has resulted in work for me most always involving working with people. On the one hand I really find it demanding and tiring to continue to do the same things day after day. Lots to learn and lots to remember from all of that routine. I recently remembered a scripture that says “nothing new under the sun”. I suppose that is true but life is still full of surprises. I will say that New Mexico has been a surprise. The best way to sum up my daily life is to just say that it has been very blessed. Far more than I could have hoped. Daily life this year for our son has a lot to do with getting out of high school. I do wonder some about what will be different when the last child leaves home. I know it will be different. Not yet sure how.

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2. Read blogs – I do read a few blogs each day. I always read Kathy’s blog. I usually read both of Katie’s. I lately have read http://professor-howdy.blogspot.com/ . I read for almost a year a blog of a fellow in Michigan. I regret now not having posted a comment. I enjoyed his thoughts, pictures, and daily posts. He had two years that I could see. I had looked at all of them and then he just left. No trace. Blog gone. Professor Howdy seems to be close to UNC and maybe he is indeed a professor there? He has some interesting posts and has a lot to say every day. On the other hand he just showed up one day on my blog with a simple,“good post”. It was easy to hit his name and go back to his blog. He probably, from what I see in his comments, has done that a lot of stopping by others blogs with comments posted, and has built up a large following. Networking is critical in life. Even in building a blog following. I am glad he stopped by. I will reply to him a few times on his daily blogs. I enjoy blogs that lean liberal and lean conservative. I find a lot of things in both of these directions to like. Even the things I do not like I find of interest. In a lot of ways I am as interested in whether a person really believes what he has to say and can support it as what he has to say.

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3. Photos – My photos come often from a “Duke City Blog” that has a lot of pictures posted each day from local folks with a camera in their hand. I may join their crowd soon. If I can get away with it I like to "take" one of Kathy’s photos. I prefer, so far, to just find a picture that "reflects a thought". Seldom is it the other way around for me. I love to find my own emotion in a picture.

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4. Other reading material –I should skip this rather than overdo it but then I will go ahead and overdo it a little. Anyway I love to read and I love to re read. Reading is “otherness”. It takes you out of yourself to somewhere else. It makes daily vacations pretty easy. Right now I am working my way through “The collected Dialogues of Plato”. Also, The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith Rough Stone Rolling, Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism, Blooms Western Canon, this month. Some things I read over and over. Others are new. A friend in Utah suggested both the Rough Stone book and the Terror and Liberalism book. I really do not read the newspaper. I catch the news on the radio. Usually I can work on several books at once. What I do read is usually full of red underlines. I like to reread what is in read over the years. Most books have dates written in the front each time I come back. I try to avoid a lot of books on my blogs. Probably does not matter much but reading is internal and one finds little if any real way to interest others in what one reads.

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5. Senses –I have poor hearing. I have weak eyes and see best up close. Reading is easy. Seeing far away is not easy. I have almost no sense of smell. "Touch is good but that doesnt open a lot of doors. Feeling should indeed qualify for this list. In some ways I would call "values" a sense of sort. Even with just a few senses to draw from in some cases, "senses" seem to be a quick summing up of how things feel. How they are. What is. In others it takes a while to come to a conclusion about how "I feel", about it all.

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Then I do like this song by the way

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I hear the train a comin´it´s rolling round the bend
and I ain´t seen the sunshine
since I don´t know when,I´m stuck in Folsom prison,
and time keeps draggin´ onbut that train keeps a rollin´
on down to San Anton..

What men want to know

All men by nature desire to know
- Aristotle

If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything
- Malcolm X

No nation can rise above the strength of its homes or the virtue of its people. The time has come for good people everywhere to demonstrate that they stand for something- something that is virtuous and clean and worthwhile. –Gorden B Hinckley

Nothing new under the Sun: but maybe "us"

Is there anything new under the Sun?
Then too what about the Sun, why under it?















Good and Evil is still here.
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The thing that has been,
it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is
that which shall be done:

and there is no new thing
under the sun
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Ecclesiastes 1:9
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If it is us that is new then what about us. I like this song the kids sing.................

Words: Nellie Talbot. Rack­ing her brain for ma­ter­i­al for her Sun­day school class in rur­al Mis­sou­ri, she thought to her­self, “How can you say there’s no­thing to teach about when you have the sun and the sky and the trees and the flow­ers!” Hence the theme of this song.


Jesus wants me for a sunbeam,
To shine for Him each day;
In every way try to please Him,
At home, at school, at play.
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A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam;
A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
I’ll be a sunbeam for Him.
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Jesus wants me to be loving,
And kind to all I see;
Showing how pleasant and happyHis little one can be
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I will ask Jesus to help meTo keep my heart from sin,
Ever reflecting His goodness,
And always shine for Him.
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I’ll be a sunbeam for Jesus;
I can if I but try;
Serving Him moment by moment,
Then live with Him on high

It is indeed and err free trip

The Earth travels around the Sun in 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9.54 seconds. This is one year. This one year trip that the Earth takes around the Sun once is 595 million miles long. The Earth spins around on its axis at the same time as it travels around the Sun. An axis is an imaginary line that connects the North and South Poles. It takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds for the Earth to spin around once. This is one Earth day.

As of last Saturday, April 14th, at midnight we here on the Earth have traveled 105 days so far this year and gone 168,001,507 miles around the Sun.

A friend who is a scientist makes note of our progress during the year and gives us updates from time to time. Lots of scientist here in New Mexico.

Guess were all on the same trip together so we might as well enjoy it.

On the other hand, what to do? Find a good cause.

Maybe a good poem to consider as we take our trip would be useful. One about road and paths but not around the Sun.

The road to wisdom? –

Well, it's plain and simple to express:

Err and err

and err again

but less

and less

and less.

by~Piet Hein,

Grace works from the inside out

I was listening to a discussion by a couple of authors who wrote about some things that had disturbed them and they felt that folks ought to rise up and get involved. The movie, “Amazing Grace”, was about a man who got involved in something that disturbed him. He made a difference. Some folks seem to make a lot of difference and others probably just want to and perhaps appreciate those that do. I also watched a special about nature and the focus was on “ants”. They seem to know collectively what is best for the total group. They, the ants, seem to react as one. In many ways the ants get their direction chemically actually detecting the action needed from the group as a whole. “”Cause and effect” seem is in some ways just a chemical conclusion for a society of ants. Chemical reaction or reaction instead of choice make the world for ants a collective rather than individual reality. Seems like there are no hero’s in the society of ants. Ants would never be bored. Each does their duty. Rising up and doing more than one was meant to do is not an option.

I like the comment sent me by a friend a few weeks ago. He said, “Remember that the main thing, is to keep the main thing, the main thing”.

William Shakespeare said to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

Another person I quoted a few days ago said that the Lord works on man from the inside out and the world works on man from the outside in”.

Maybe the thing about making a difference and having an impact in the world has to balance against making a difference in oneself. The “ants” act without agency or choice, it appears, and the collective good is served. An ant never has to wonder how to make a difference.

The challenge of choice is to use it for the good of all perhaps but to allow one to change from the inside out. .

These pictures are from a local blog. I like the one “Bored”. Makes one wonder. Why was the sign put behind a chain link fence and what does that have to do with the conclusion of being bored. Then too was that a conclusion or a question being presented by the sign.

The train is the Albuquerque commuter train.
The blue door and Chile are reflective of a style you find in this part of the country. Good colors.

Breath, Smiles, Tears

A Statue at the Art Museum

This statue the reminds me of a poem. A poem that for me is about things I feel. It was written by a women about a man. Elizabeth Browning wrote it about a relationship she felt strongly about. At the time that she wrote it the poem could be said to have a political edge to it. It revealed her awareness of the conflict at that time between what was the existing literary tradition and what this represented as a opposing but emerging tradition of women's writing.

She wrote a great deal in the 1820's and 30's. I am always fascinated at what changes came into the world during this time period. It is a favorite time period of mine for literature. Now 180++ years later I find the words ones that I would like to write. I find each line of this poem builds from the previous. The Statue says, " this is us". The words say, "this is me".

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love with a passion put to use

In my old grief’s, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints; I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Where are we and why are we here

Where are we, and why are we here?

Perhaps we are a work in progress. On our way somewhere? Having come from somewhere. Perhaps getting better becuase of the experience.

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John Newton wrote the song "Amazing Grace" that became a favorite for Christians largely because the hymn vividly and briefly sums up the doctrine of divine grace. The lyrics are based on I Chronicles 17:16, where King David marvels at God's choosing him and his house. Newton apparently wrote this for use in a sermon he preached on this passage. He felt bad about the past in the slave trade and wanted to be better.

It has also become known as a favorite with supporters of freedom and human rights, both Christian and non-Christian, in part because many assume it to be his testimony about his slave trading past.

I saw this movie a week or so ago. Good movie by the way. Having thought about the song, the movie, the message, and events, the question of "why are we here" is interesting to think about, as is the question of “Grace”. Newton celebrated it with this song. Of course it seems clear that after we do all that we can do we can never do enough to repay the gift of life and to really make up for our own mistakes, so thank goodness for the "Grace" of He who can make up the difference. On the other hand Newton turned away from what he had done. He wished he had never done things he considered wrong. He had remorse for his past. He worked hard to change things. “Works”, is what a lot of folks call what he did the rest of his life as he celebrated “Grace”.


“If we “work” upon marble, it will perish, if we work upon
brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will
crumble into dust. But if we work upon immortal souls,
if we imbue them with principles, with the just fear
of the Creator and love of fellow men, we engrave on those
tablets something, which will brighten all eternity

by Daniel Webster.

“The world works from the outside in, The Lord works from
the inside out”

by Ezra Taft Benson

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Amazing Grace

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Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)

That sav’d a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears reliev’d;

How precious did that grace appear,

The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;’

Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promis’d good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease;

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God, who call’d me here below,

Will be forever mine.

John New­ton, Ol­ney Hymns (Lon­don: W. Ol­i­ver, 1779)

Thought, tools and beauty

Tools can also be largely cognitive, An example of that type of tool would be written language.

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That said then perhaps blogs are tools. On the other hand tools are more traditionally thought of as devices or equipment that creates a mechanical advantage in doing something specific. A simple tool might be a lever or anything with a pivot point.
It isn’t unusual to find animals like monkeys or apes using a tool. When I saw the movie "Space Odyssey" years ago what caught my attention wasn’t the ape using the tool but his realization that he had a tool in his hand. It was like his understanding just clicked. Hand, tool, weapon, needed motion all clicked. The spark of thought indicating so much more to come perhaps.
Spring comes. Flowers come. The impact is blurred. A flower in a photo really shows spring but a flower in a painting blurred came from a tool. The thought behind it is much more than what you see.
Love Spring.

A surreal and bizarre trip up the river

Homer, Plato, Homer and Marlin

The "Irony"

Maybe it was Homer who had the most influence on the Greeks. 400 years or so later Plato seemed to want that distinction for himself. today opinions are on both sides of the question as to which really did. Even so Shakespeare and Plato especially and Homer too ought to be in the best book stores.

Yesterday I set out the main book store in town. Plenty of others really but this is a well known one. Last week I found 4 of the 10 volumes of Will and Ariel Durant’s “The Story of Civilization” at this store so it ought to be a place where one can find important books.

I asked about Plato. The clerk asked, and I think she really was asking, if he was one that would be in Western Philosophy? I said yes, but then I also asked if they had other Philosophy sections. She said no.. She pointed at a end aisle book case and said it would be there if we have it. I went and looked. I noticed a book by Kierkegaard. No Plato books. I was surprised.

The real surprise was that there indeed was a book on philosophy by “Homer Simpson”.
Now I pause to mention the” irony”. Makes me think of the movie Apocalypse Now.when Marlin Brando at a key time said the words, “the horror, the horror”. For yesterdays events it would be even more fitting to have said the words much in the same way, “the irony, the irony”. No Plato found in this book store. Actually I, didn’t’ see the other famous philosophy poet Homer either.

Just Bart’s dad. The book was titled Homer Simpson's Philosophy sitting right there in the “Western Philosophy” section. Course it was pretty close to books on the Southwest so I suppose the word “Western” for this store is pretty all inclusive.

You see Plato sort of existed to prove that he could have more influence on the Greeks than Homer did. (the real Homer) Don’t know why that was such a big deal, influencing the Greeks, but then Greeks is what you had to work with.

Here we are in the 21st century. Albuquerque New Mexico. The best known book store in town and no Plato. No Homer. Kierkegaard made it somehow. Then Bart’s dad was there. Homer, 21st century.

I left in disgust feeling my journey had become increasingly surreal and bizarre, taking a line from Marlin.

I probably wouldn’t bother to rant a little on this event since of those that may read this perpahs 4 folks, just guessing, 2 have already heard this story. I do notice that I get several folks from other countries who seem to drop by this blog according to the site meter. No Greeks that I have noticed. Course I thought the picture of Marlin Brando was cool. Looks like a look worth working on. Maybe I need to shave my head. Then on the other hand time is working on the look for me. Sort of.

So about this Plato. He seemed to be mostly focused on the question of how society could be reshaped so that man might realize the best that is in him. Homer on the other hand came 400 years before Plato. He was probably blind and overall little is know about him. The name , Homer, may have come from a society of poets called the Homeridae but Homer the man wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. Some think Homer had a lot more influence on the Greeks than did Plato.