August 2007

No matter what creative work I’m engaged in, I have found Leonardo’s advice to be imperative. Whether it is writing an essay, designing a website, or remodeling the house, getting away from the work, at least for a few hours, gives fresh perspective on it. The awkwardness of a sentence or the lack of symmetry in a design becomes obvious facts with the interval of a little time and distance.
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Toughts as Inspirations from the Suprerme Intelligence
August 4, 2007

“If you accept your thoughts as inspirations from the Supreme Intelligence, obey them when they prescribe difficult duties, because they come only so long as they are used; or if your skepticism reaches to the last verge, and you have no confidence in any foreign mind, then be brave, because there is one good opinion which must always be of consequence to you, namely, your own.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essay on Courage)
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Priorities and Conscious Choices
August 15, 2007

Over the last 11 days I had priorities that took me away from getting blog entries uploaded. We hired a friend of ours, a professional contractor, to come in from out of town to remodel our kitchen. And because it turned into a bigger project than expected (we discovered an old water leak from the back of the dishwasher), I had to assist him. His visit turned into seven long days of manual labor for both of us.
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Cultural Traditions
August 23, 2007

In the spirit of promoting religious and cultural traditions from around the world, I have finally completed two website projects which took up the bulk of my time over the last two weeks. And though it took me away from my writing projects and my book proposal (a proposal encouraged by best-selling poet, author, and translator Daniel Ladinsky) it was the right thing to do. Katherine O'Brien, the Executive Director of The Foundation for Traditional Studies, which publishes the Sophia Journal, is a friend of mine, and I like what she and her organization do. Both sites focus on the strengths and wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions and religions. The great thing about both sites is that they promote understanding and appreciation of the diverse religious and cultural traditions that flourish in the world. If ignorance breeds hatred, then knowledge, perhaps, can breed love.
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Life as Art
August 26, 2007

I have long held a view of life as art. In everything we do we can communicate beauty and grace, or ugliness and coarseness. Every word, thought and action we give birth to leaves an impression, not only on us, but on everyone within our circle of influence.
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