Tag Archives: quotes

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Any responsible society should guard its integrity by respecting the rights of minorities: if not for the sake of justice, then for the salvation of society itself. For it is from the disadvantaged and often disenfranchised that new wisdom comes. This is a lesson we can learn from the study of nature, for in nature new changes generally come from the margins of stable systems, rather than from the stable areas. System theory in thermodynamics and in biology will often show that closed systems do not lead to progress or change, whereas open systems can bring about change and innovation.

Graham Cotter, “Redemptive Ministries”, Cotter’s Weekly #61 (Taken from the ED Report for PWRDF’s AGM this weekend.)

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iPod communities and communion?

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I sit on the bus and see heads bowed over smartphones and iPods. People type away as they walk down the street. Goodness knows I am guilty of it.

Have we replaced our coming together in person for coming together through technology? Do we look at the latest gadgets to save us rather than the One who sacrificed self?

I’ve been reading this poem over and over since it first appeared in my book last week.

Small screen communion

iPod, phone
held close
and thumbed,
illuminating so dimly
the lichened branches
fingering the above,
are such small lights
on these paths
at night.

What possible guidance
could they offer?
Yet still
I look,
still we look
so intently
at their ever-decreasing thinness
and ask of them
the same
as wafers
once gave.

From Other by Kester Brewin.

May Some Light Enfold

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This is taken from (and adapted with my own photos) Episcopal Cafe Art Blog.

I feel myself in need
Of the inspiring strains of ancient lore,
My heart to lift, my empty mind to feed,
And all the world explore.

I know that I am old
And never can recover what is past,
But for the future may some light unfold
And soar from ages blast.

I feel resolved to try,
My wish to prove, my calling to pursue,
Or mount up from the earth into the sky,
To show what Heaven can do.


Words by George Moses Horton (in “George Moses Horton, Myself”)

Photos by myself: Trial Island and Mt Baker; Solitary Paddler, Munda, New Georgia; The Boathouse, Thetis Island; On Top of the World: Tavish on Moorea, French Polynesia.

Advent

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Breathe out empty yourself: of hate, of fear, of anxiety
Breathe in fill yourself with love, with life, with mercy
Breathe out empty yourself of busyness, of selfishness of greed
Breathe in fill yourself with peace, with joy, with hope
Breathe out empty yourself of idolatry, of self worship, of false gods
Breathe in fill yourself with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit

from jonny baker.

Crazy Relatives

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I’ve learned that one of the biggest indicators for success in life is having a few crazy relatives. So long as you get only some of the crazy genes, you don’t end up crazy; you merely end up different. And it’s that difference that gives you an edge, that makes you successful.

Douglas Coupland, Player One

Not meant to be a specific autobiographical commentary. Unless you’re a relative and you want it to be.

Disillusionment pt 2

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Back in the spring, I wrote about my problems with big pharmaceuticals. I had just come off of a course where pharmaceutical interventions for mental illnesses seemed to be disproportionately pushed. It may stem from my own discomfort with my family doctor seemingly being in the hand of pharmaceutical companies, it may stem from the fact that I live in one of the hippie capitals of Canada, or it may be the fact that I have always tried other options before resorting to popping a pill. Any way you look at it, I think there is a problem with the way North Americans relate to medications. That is why this post on The Ethics of Western Pharmaceutical Companies caught my eye. It is from jordoncooper.com, a blog I read from time to time. He shares some chilling quotes that are worth a read.