Materialism

Numbers, they become

meaningless... Number so large,

it confounds, senseless...

Numbers so massive

it preoccupies spirits;

hardening the heart.

Life becomes

dead as things!

---<--@

On Materialism

Materialism is of the spirit of the world. It afflicts all classes of people. It is also indiscriminate in its desire to destroy the wealth of our nations.

Being rich and being materialistic have nothing to do with each other. It is not wrong to have a lot of material wealth.

Too less money is actually a form of physical evil. It's called poverty. Materialism when it is left to exploit this evil turns it into an organic indigence that in a nation creates division within our communities.

In many ways, it is desirable to be able to handle one's own temporal affairs.

Virtuous entrepreneurship require the vigilant exercise of prudence and prudence as a virtue is averse to either selfishness or recklessness in financial affairs.

Joseph of Arimathea is a good example.

Money in and of itself is not evil. It is the inordinate attachment to it that makes it so. It is these sinful attachments to the evil in all evil things that produce injustices in the distribution of the goods of the earth.

The possession of money and all its various material extensions is not immoral as long as it does not create distance between people and between people and God.

Because wealth is much more than these...

---<--@

The ascent of Country -

A Republic and her Liberty

can afford to be very forbearing - in her hope -

but materialism, once it becomes rampant,

is never a healthy pursuit for a city or for a nation

and shall soon imperil the well-being

of any egalitarian democracy.

- selah -

We must understand - that -

the happiness that is universally sought

by the heart of the children of Mankind

is not a material kind of happiness.

---<--@

The telling of names -

It takes about 5 straight months to say 1 million names with attention. Indeed these numbers, they matter.

These names, seemingly hollow now and empty of their substance, they matter.

These names now sought in silence, seemingly dead to the earth, they matter.

In the timeless realms of the spirit where all our names belong under one heaven before God, they matter.

For with voices clear as a bell these names resound as a chorus - imploring the timeless justice of thy own heart before the Throne of the LORD in Eternity to listen now to the telling of those numbers thou must never choose to ignore...

Indeed, these numbers - they matter!

And they matter more than the matter that serves the cause of every human life.

- selah -

In thy every pursuit of happiness in this world, may you never be found by God to have placed your love at the feet of Mammon.

For you will be made to account for the desire you have invested in every cent, every penny, you have ever held in your hand - all the material riches to the last atom that the LORD had cause to let pass through your own life - for your own sake, may those desires be good.

My Miyang, our Margot, and countless other human beings starved while across the fence there was an excess of bread.

Simplicity

Our firmament - is -

as vast as the dreaming - that -

gives it form and shape.

Each life is a piece

of this heaven from within;

one star in the sky.

And you work to gain

from the LORD above - a piece -

of heaven on earth.

So you dream a dream

in the midst of all these dreams...

a star among stars.

And you set a course

to bridge thy heaven and earth

to make thy dream true.

Adrift in the sky

- you gaze at a million suns -

all of them not yours.

And in the darkness

- set afire by thy hunger -

you find yourself lost.

Life is a big place!

It is easy to get lost.

And to get lost fast...

Simplicity - is -

A return to thy own truth.

It is thy anchor.

"A piece of my dream -

it does not have to be big...

somewhere to return."

It guards thee

from excess.

---<--@

Simplicity is giving my Anne the most expensive bar of dark chocolate I can find - in the whole of the universe. Because seeing my Miyang happy is a significant piece of my own sky.

This thought gives me a very real sense of joy. It is a treasure I know I'll always have.

I am familiar with it, it is familiar with me.

So when life gets too complicated for me, I use these as my anchor. For I have more than one.

And it never fails to leads me back to my own better, clearer, truer self.

Alleluia, God is good!

The First Cause -

What causes the motion of all things (and the mystery in all things) in the visible universe IS the longing that lives within ourselves.

Each of us is a dreaming that exists within the greater dreaming of God.

Indeed, the motion of the stars and the galaxies mirror the motion of our love; for everything here is engaged in a vast and inescapable journey of return -

everything here is like - life longing for God,

everything here is like - love longing for Itself.

---<--@

Rogue Consumerism

Assuage your hunger,

O heart of Man, fill your love -

fill it with product!

Amass the whole world,

divide the spoils, betray it.

Buy and sell friendships.

Pursue happiness

chained to the weight of the earth.

Forsaking all things...

Do not trust to it!

Break thee thy shackles today.

Work, reap, and be wise.

Liberate your heart -

love thee thy relationships,

release thee thy hold.

Alas, should these chains

cause thee to fly, you believe:

Make a god of it.

Beware then, O Man,

lest you reap dust and ashes:

Love God - Love Country.

Make the earth thy home.

But do not make it thy own.

Sow in love and live.

Value things,

make them good.

---<--@

The Sixth Day -

God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

- selah -

There could be great desolation

even in the midst of great wealth, Starshine.

For in the heart of Man, Beloved of God,

- there is an emptiness -

that can not be filled with the things of the earth.

Remember thee, O heart,

God made the one habitation of Man

- all the visible universe - first.

Then God made you, darling Starshine.

It is you who make these things very good.

The Real Value of Things -

The real value of things

- arise from the value of things -

that are not things.

Think about it.

---<--@

Beauty and Industry

Starshine, dearest Starshine,
the labor of our heart - must -
always preceed the work of our hands.

So if you shall desire happiness
you must first know in your heart
what it is that you seek
even before you shall desire it.

For desire in and of itself offers
neither sight to thy heart
nor light to thy understanding
which you must require,

Beloved of God,
to know thy own truth by heart.

And seeking it not by sight
but through the eye of thy love
that in thy seeking believes

with conviction of faith
you will come to know thy happiness

by the grace of God
even before desire bears thee away
to where thy feet must follow.

For you work hard, dear Starshine,
you deserve to profit from thy labors.
But yet many are the times
that you fail to find thy love
which reduce thy labors into tears
and deprive thy heart of life's purpose.
Yet while there is yet longing in our life
precious Starshine, believe -
there is nothing in this world
that can ever undo
in thy heart of hearts
what Love for thee has already done.

So return again to thy longing
but know also to trust this time
in the Love that longs for thee back
and work hard, dear Starshine,
knowing to be happy with every hope
striving to always be free
to find thy peace and to prosper,
far into yonder horizons,

our beautiful forever.
---<--@

Abigail

You were so tiny

when you started out in "Signs"

not so long ago...

Years are a measure

of maturity not age -

listen, learn, love, grow.

Be happy,

dear Abbie.

---<--@

I believe in you.

The Chase

- from a friend

The story is told about a young lion that asked his mother: “Where is happiness?”

The mother lion responded: “On your tail.”

Upon hearing this, the young lion started chasing his tail, and spent the whole day doing so.

Seeing the young lion tired and exhausted, the mother lion said: “Son, you don’t chase happiness. Just keep moving forward, and your happiness will follow.”

- selah -

Of course, in your case Abbie, this story would be about a young lioness...

You know, a lot of things can be said about making the wrong choices... the problem is when we don't say them (even to ourselves).

Everybody wants to be happy. But no one knows how to get there. So we sort of stumble into happiness, we try to define it. And when we are wrong we get devastated.

So many people in your profession are trying to find happiness in the wrong places. I should know, I've been in some of those...

So go and be happy, dear Abbie - grow up with grace and let happiness come to you.

God bless you and your generation, Starshine.

Amy Jade

I only knew you -

through your death. A life cut

short by demon drugs.

Amy, if it means

anything to you, I feel you.

Godspeed, young artist.

To hell with

demon drugs.

---<--@

Amy Jade Winehouse (19830914-20110723 peaceably recalled by God, of natural causes) singer, songwriter, artist - freedom fighter (addict soul) - Godspeed.

A drug user is first and foremost a victim of a drug abuser.

And if you trace this chain of victimization all the way up to its logical end, you'll find the ultimate abuser - the Adversary of God.

---<--@

To Thine Own Self Be True

There's a million ways
to live and a million ways
to die, O my soul!

But the way of Truth
is one and the lie that kills
is one, O my soul!

To thine own
self be true.
---<--@

There is only one nearness and it ascends to the Truth.

There is only one distance and it descends to the void.

The Crossroads Cafe

You sit with your thoughts,

here at the Crossroads Cafe -

at the edge of space.

You've been living hard,

you've been running out, you pray -

the Crossroads Cafe!

Chances are

you've been here.

---<--@

Some writings on the wall at the Crossroads Cafe -

If life is all about winning -

then living is all about second chances.

You learn to be happy by mistake.

And so expect that you will make many of them.

=^.^=

Shining Out

What is life about,
my precious starshine, is it -
about growing up?

Life is about dreams,
so study not for profit
but for happiness.

Learn to grow
out not up.
---<--@

Find yourself and the rest will follow.

Good Work

Good and honest work,
the kind that makes you happy,
isn't 'bout money...

Build ye first - within -
the Kingdom of our LORD God,
all else shall follow.

The wages
of virtue.
---<--@