A view from the Hill is a place where from time to time I will wax lyrical, sharing with you personal discoveries. A forum to share things that I feel need to be said whether by me or another who has said it better. I will also highlight people and organisations that are doing good stuff! Sometimes just a question asking why not?
"A View from the Hill" is a place where from time to time I will wax lyrical, sharing insights and discoveries I have made.
To say those things that I feel need to be said.
I will also highlight people and organisations that are doing good stuff!
This is a place where longer quotes from those more articulate than I have summed up the essence of what I intuitively believe. This is a view of "Broom Hills" from the crossroads looking slightly south of East.
On the eastern side of a the regenerated tree lot named "Dorothy's trees" (all plantings and regeneration areas have family or otherwise personally meaningful names, like "Frog Hollow"). There are some significant granite outcrops and this is where, many years ago, I sat and pondered where to from here. Although I had been on my personal journey for a long time before, this was a defining moment, which allowed my to see the fork to the road less travelled and a vision for what could be.
Alice In Wonderland- The Cheshire Cat
A charming sequence from Alice in Wonderland, where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, and she asks him the way, he queries Alice as to where she would like to go, Alice says that she doesn't know, and the Cat, says that then, it doesn't matter which way she goes. He then informs her that there are many people she could meet and ask, but they are all mad. I hope that after reading my site you will have some sign posts on the road less traveled.I am now on a journey on an unmarked track that is off the road less traveled and am very excited about the possibilities that are emerging. See information about Fred Provenza's day at Swanpool, 12/05/2014, on the home page.
"Work like a beaver, we're told as children, and you will get ahead in life. But wait a minute — even the most eager beavers work about five hours a day, mostly at a fairly leisurely pace, and beavers are know to take frequent vacations. Plus they do work that matters, building sturdy lodges for their family and community, not soldering a gizmo into a line of gadgets destined for a quick trip to the landfill, or processing a load of data that no one needs. Beavers have a life, not a job."
- Jim Hightower (There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos).
"Choice lives in one place - the present. Because that is where the timeless self exists. 'I am, I am, I am - that is all'. In the present I experience the result of past choices (inputs), and make the choices that form my future."
"I am becoming free because I am training myself not
to blame. I am powerful, but the habit of blaming means
I am giving my power away. Then even a powerful being
can at times feel weak. I'm not weak - I'm a powerful soul
who may have acquired a few weak habits."
Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.
- Osho
Spirituality is system of thinking towards life (aka wisdom) that continually 'inputs' the importance of choice - there is a little bit of the self in every situation. To think we are a product of circumstance is also a choice!
"As your own inner quietness deepens, the skill of listening to others naturally develops. People find their own answers when speaking to someone with a quiet mind."
"The great paradox: We are travellers and there is a journey. However, the destination is an ever deepening realisation that I have already got what I need with me, within me."
I see the hydrogen atom doesn't have to earn a living before behaving like a hydrogen atom. In fact, as best I can see, only human beings operate on the basis of 'having to earn a living'...We can live handsomely using only daily income of the Sun's and gravity's multi-way-intergenerated energies.
R. Buckminster Fuller
"The secret to remaining light hearted and happy in a world that faces so many challenges is my wisdom. I put my energy into the things I can change and make my life a source of positivity, living the changes I want for the world."
"Wanting recognition or appreciation for doing the 'right'
thing diminishes the value of that action - my motivation
taints the action. Virtue is its own reward because it is an
investment in my character, and shows that I actually
value myself. This is self respect."
"There is a lot of contentment that flows from feeling
that, what I am doing is in alignment with my values
and in alignment with the 'bigger picture' I have
scripted for myself. I have harmony within."
Man has a poor understanding of life. He mistakes knowledge for wisdom.
He tries to unveil the Holy secrets of our Father, the Great Spirit.
He attempts to impose his laws on Mother Earth.
Even though he, himself, is a part of Nature, he chooses to disregard and ignore it
for the sake of his own immediate gain.
But the laws of Nature are far stronger than those of mankind.
Man must awake at last, and learn to understand how little time there remains
Before he will become the cause of his own downfall.
And he has so much to learn. To learn to see with his heart.
He must learn to respect Mother Earth - She who has given Life to everything;
To our brothers and sisters, the animals and the plants;
To the rivers, the lakes, the oceans and the winds.
He must realise that the planet does not belong to him,
But that he has to care far and maintain the delicate balance of nature
for the sake of the wellbeing of our children and all future generations.
It is the duty of man to preserve the earth and the creation of the Great Spirit.
Mankind being but a grain of sand in the Holy Circle which encloses all of Life.
White Cloud
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Roots of Violence:
Wealth without work,
Pleasure without conscience,
Knowledge without character,
Commerce without morality,
Science without humanity,
Worship without sacrifice,
Politics without principles.
Gandhi:
Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
Kalidasa
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony. William Henry Channing
"Once, on ancient Earth, there was a human boy walking along a beach. There had just been a storm, and starfish had been scattered along the sands. The boy knew the fish would die, so he began to fling the fish to the sea. But every time he threw a starfish, another would wash ashore. "An old Earth man happened along and saw what the child was doing. He called out, 'Boy, what are you doing?' " 'Saving the starfish!' replied the boy. " 'But your attempts are useless, child! Every time you save one, another one returns, often the same one! You can't save them all, so why bother trying? Why does it matter, anyway?' called the old man. "The boy thought about this for a while, a starfish in his hand; he answered, "Well, it matters to this one." And then he flung the starfish into the welcoming sea." - Loren Eiseley, The Star Thrower
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
A Humanist Code of Ethics:
Do no harm to the earth, she is your mother.
Being is more important than having.
Never promote yourself at another's expense.
Hold life sacred; treat it with reverence.
Allow each person the dignity of his or her labor.
Open your home to the wayfarer.
Be ready to receive your deepest dreams;
sometimes they are the speech of unblighted conscience.
Always make restitutions to the ones you have harmed.
Never think less of yourself than you are.
Never think that you are more than another.
Arthur Dobrin