Category: balance
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Too many books?
I am—reluctantly—trying to get rid of a few books. Too many books? Impossible, said Umberton Eco, Italian writer and philosopher. He owned 50,000 books! “”It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be…
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Traveling in West Texas
I recently attended the Hart Family Reunion in Big Spring, Texas. Some people prefer trees and lots of green. I like trees and green, too, but I also love the vastness of the land and sky in West Texas. As Aristotle once said, “In all things of nature, there is something marvelous.” –Joy
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The power of harmony
I am still going through “stuff”—getting ready for a major house renovation. I’ve been sorting through boxes of my mother’s papers, and I found a quote my mother, an English teacher, liked. William Wordsworth said, “While with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into…
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Books everywhere
I haven’t counted my books. They are everywhere—in my study, in my kitchen, in my bedroom, in all of the bedrooms. If this quote is true, I have lived more than a thousand lives! “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one,” says George R. Martin.…
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To cope with life
“We do need humor to cope with the absurdity of human reality,” write Einar and Jamex de la Torre in the words that accompany their art exhibit at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa.
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To enjoy life
“If we enjoy the absurdity of life, we will enjoy it more,” write Einar and Jamex de la Torre in the words that accompany their art exhibit at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa.
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Fear and certitude
“Extremism is a powerful alliance of fear and certitude,” writes Jon Meacham. “Complexity and humility are its natural foes. “Faith and life are essentially mysterious, for neither God nor nature is easily explained or understood. Crusades are for the weak, literalism for the insecure.” Jon Meacham writes about religion in his book American Gospel—God, the…
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Unity and religion
“Can religion be a force of unity, not division, in the nation and in the world?” Jon Meacham asks. “The Founders thought so, and so must we. As a force in the affairs of nations, it must be managed and marshaled for good, for faith will be with us, as the scriptures say, to the…
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To be seen
The thing we want most is to be seen in our fullest,” says David Brooks, The New York Times columnist. “The thing we fear most is to be seen at our fullest.” I heard Brooks speak recently at Arts & Letters Live in Dallas. His new book is How to Know a Person—The Art of…
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Feminism
“The patriarchy is stony,” writes Isabel Allende. “Feminism, like the ocean, is fluid, powerful, deep and encompasses the infinite complexity of life. It moves in waves, currents, tides and sometimes in storms.” I just read Allende’s book The Soul of a Woman. Some of the book is very interesting, and some of it is not…