Worth Thinking About !!!
“Before you know it you’ll be asking, “How did it get so late so soon?” So take time to figure yourself out. Take time to realize what you want and need. Take time to take risks. Take time to love, laugh, cry, learn, and forgive. Life is shorter than it often seems.
Here are few things worth thinking about, before it’s too late:
- This moment is your life. – Your life is not between the moments of your birth and death. Your life is between now and your next breath. The present – the here and now – is all the life you ever get. So live each moment in full, in kindness and peace, without fear and regret. And do the best you can with what you have in this moment; because that is all you can ever expect of anyone, including yourself.
– A lifetime isn’t very long. – This is your life, and you’ve got to fight for it. Fight for what’s right. Fight for what you believe in. Fight for what’s important to you. Fight for the people you love, and never forget to tell them how much they mean to you. Realize that right now you’re lucky because you still have a chance. So stop for a moment and think. Whatever you still need to do, start doing it today. There are only so many tomorrows.
– The sacrifices you make today will pay dividends in the future. – When it comes to working hard to achieve a dream – earning a degree, building a business, or any other personal achievement that takes time and commitment – one thing you have to ask yourself is: “Am I willing to live a few years of my life like many people won’t, so I can spend the rest of my life like many people can’t?”
– When you procrastinate, you become a slave to yesterday. – But when you are proactive, it’s as if yesterday is a kind friend that helps take a load off your back. So do something right now that your future self will thank you for. Trust me, tomorrow you’ll be happy you started today.
– Failures are only lessons. – Good things come to those who still hope even though they’ve been disappointed, to those who still believe even though they’ve tasted failure, to those who still love even though they’ve been hurt. So never regret anything that has happened in your life; it cannot be changed, undone or forgotten. Take it all as lessons learned and move on with grace.
– You are your most important relationship. – Happiness is when you feel good about yourself without feeling the need for anyone else’s approval. You must first have a healthy relationship with yourself before you can have a healthy relationship with others. You have to feel worthwhile and acceptable in your own eyes, so that you’ll be able to look confidently into the eyes of the people around you and connect with them.
– A person’s actions speak the truth. – You’re going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times; but in the end, it’s always their actions you should judge them by. So pay attention to what people do. Their actions will tell you everything you need to know.
– Small acts of kindness can make the world a better place. – Smile at people who look like they are having a rough day. Be kind to them. Kindness is the only investment that never fails. And wherever there is a human being, there’s an opportunity for kindness. Learn to give, even if it’s just a smile, not because you have too much, but because you understand there are so many others who feel like they have nothing at all.
– Behind every beautiful life, there has been some kind of pain. – You fall, you rise, you make mistakes, you live, you learn. You’re human, not perfect. You’ve been hurt, but you’re alive. Think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, and to chase the things you love. Sometimes there is sadness in our journey, but there is also lots of beauty. We must keep putting one foot in front of the other even when we hurt, for we will never know what is waiting for us just around the bend.”
Gând !
“De ce să nu ne întrebăm ce este dincolo?! De ce să considerăm nebănuitul ca fiind o umbră imensă, ale cărei laturi să îşi pună amprenta asupra noastră şi să ajungem să trăim în de ce-uri ?! Zi de zi luăm programul dus – întors ca şi cum ar fi scris într-un orar postat pe perete, ca în copilărie când mama, din dorinţa de a ne îmboldi să învăţăm, ne cumpăra orare cât mai colorate, mari, unde ne scriam programul de la şcoală, deseori cu litere de o şchioapă.
Dacă atunci eram în stare să refuzăm orarul acela, preferând să pierdem vremea în faţa blocului, de ce nu am fi în stare să refuzăm doar ceea ce primim sau oferim mecanic?! De ce nu am pierde vremea puţin şi cu gândurile noastre, îndrăznind să intuim nebănuitul, să visăm şi să credem că am putea să planificăm viitorul altfel decât ar fi el preconizat a ni se înfăţişa?
E drept că a încerca să defineşti nebănuitul ne poate duce pe noi în ispita visării ..în paşii pierduţi ai dorinţelor noastre care fie nu şi-au obţinut identitatea clară, fie au mocnit aşteptând tonul de liniere.
Iar întrebările cu un răspuns mai puţin clar nu ne prea ajută, probabil de aceea preferăm să privim doar ziua respectivă şi programul săptămânal, stabilit de la ceremonialul cafelei până la finalizarea statisticilor cerute la serviciu.
Dar accept varianta pariului, ce pierd bănuind nebănuitul şi ce câştig ?! Probabil aş putea pierde ceva timp, de exemplu, nu aş mai privi degeaba, pe stradă, traficul infernal şi m-aş gândi mai bine ce reprezintă albastrul cerului..Aşadar pierd timpul irosit deseori de noi şi totodată câştig un vis, dar pot adăuga şi altceva în orarul prescris de nevăzutele mâini ale celor din jurul nostru, care , în lanţul trofic, ne organizează viaţa. Să nu uităm că şi mâinile noastre fac parte din acest consiliul de stabilire a orarelor!” – by Mite
Moments in Life !
I often find myself just walking the streets, sometimes the plain desert, in search of nothing. Just moving along, in line with my thoughts towards the nothingness that floats above everything. I see, I touch and I wonder what would all be if I wasn’t me. What if I was you? Would everything look the same?
I swim in the reality of my perception, in the reality of my mind and I know when I will get to the shore I will cease to be. But the shore looks too far away, and that is a good sign as I can keep swimming in these troubled fields of my imagination and carry on with being me.
I open my eyes and see the light reflecting and giving shape and colour to the ever floating multitude of atoms that pulsate and vibrate creating the matter that I call my reality. Weirdly enough, nobody else calls it the same. Some call it my madness, others my dreams, but not me……I call it reality. My dreams are much more than the mere daily nothing. My dreams are even more nothing…but yet are mine, I cherish them and strive to achieve them ,which I might very well do one day. But then they will still be nothing. When I will get to the shore, tired of swimming, while waiting for my cessation, I will not be able to take them with me, I will have nothing and nothing will follow me any further.
Food for Thought !? (maybe !?)
“What happens to the faith healer and the shaman when any poor citizen can see the full effect of drugs or surgeries, administered without ceremonies or mystifications? Roughly the same thing as happens to the rainmaker when the climatologist turns up, or to the diviner from the heavens when schoolteachers get hold of elementary telescopes.” – (Christopher HItchens, God Is Not Great)
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“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land. – (Desmond Tutu)
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“The idea of God was not a lie but a device of the unconscious which needed to be decoded by psychology. A personal god was nothing more than an exalted father-figure: desire for such a deity sprang from infantile yearnings for a powerful, protective father, for justice and fairness and for life to go on forever. God is simply a projection of these desires, feared and worshipped by human beings out of an abiding sense of helplessness. Religion belonged to the infancy of the human race; it had been a necessary stage in the transition from childhood to maturity. It had promoted ethical values which were essential to society. Now that humanity had come of age, however, it should be left behind” – (Sigmund Freud – A History Of God)
Playing Around with my Camera !
Just fooling around with my camera in a friend’s house. I actually love these miniature hand made stuff !
Bits of Nature ! – (splash of colour)
“I WOULD HAVE MY EARS FILLED
WITH THE WORLD’S MUSIC
LET ME HEAR ALL SOUNDS OF LIFE AND LIVING”
“IF YOU DON’T LIKE SOMETHING, CHANGE IT. IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT, CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE.”
“LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF BREATHS WE TAKE,
BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR BREATH AWAY”
(Maya Angelou quotes)
Reflections on Self – Who am I ?
Who am I ? … I will never believe those who say they found the answer to this question. For if you ever really search for an answer, you will find that it is impossible to ever know as you are never the same, you are in a continuous change. You are what is around you mixed with what you make of it. And you are always different. Even if just by a very small fraction, you are always different from whom you were a minute ago. Our brain can process 1 million bits of information per second while we can be conscious only of about two thousands bits per second (this is debatable, numbers may vary, the idea is important ). That makes it even harder to ever know who we truly are. The only certitude of who I am is now, when I feel my fingers pressing different keys on the keyboard, trying to express my thoughts in words, pressing my back against the chair, sipping some water to wet my dry lips. This is who I am now. But after I finish this? After my brain processed few more millions bits of information and after I become conscious of few more thousands of the same, I have no idea whom I will be then!
People might think they know, and often people say they are good, they love thing, they love others, they don’t like one thing or another…they have friends, they enjoy reading….and this is who they are. But is it really true? For example…being good !…if you were ever put in the extreme situation of having to save your dearest ones, your children, your life by having to murder another innocent person , would you do it? There are people who will do it without blinking , most of the people will do it but will be marked for life , and very few people who will not do it. But would you do it? You don’t know. And if you would do it, would it be a bad or a good thing? Whom would you be then? A cold blooded murderer or someone full of love (for his close ones)?
I hate bitter taste…and often it makes me gag…but yet I love coffee without sugar, and I don’t know what else that tastes bitter I would like as I didn’t try everything out there. Can that be me, the guy who hates bitter, but yet he likes few bitter things? if that were true and I was that guy, that won’t define me very well. I do or I don’t like bitter? I don’t know…I know I don’t like some things I have tried already that were bitter and that is all.
So my answer to this question is – I HAVE NO CLUE ! All I can do is educate my mind for my inner self to know who I am at every given moment. Not control my soul, my heart, my body or my instincts with my EGO, but be as conscious as I can of everything that my existence throws at me and have faith my subconscious self will make the best out of everything else. I can stop trying to control everything and wake up every morning to start a fresh new day, with new challenges, pleasures, disappointments and whatever else might be and enjoy them all , but don’t hold on to them, as there will be another day coming where I will miss the new for holding on to the old. Love with passion and fall so I can get up more aware of were I step. I can Dream big, I can hope and I can desire.
I am what my life is !
(I hope this makes some sense to you and your comments are always welcomed…just don’t mind my poor writing skills. And just so you know, in the last image I was about 14kg heavier than now )
Decalog !
Decalog – Horatiu Malaele
1. Nu îţi crea o imagine falsă. Este incomodă, greu de întreţinut şi uşor de depistat.
2. Fii prietenul duşmanilor tăi. Un proverb islamic spune că “numai iubindu-i poţi să-i distrugi”.
3. Rămâi modest. Dar fă în aşa fel ca lucrul ăsta să se ştie. Trebuie să ai orgoliul modestiei tale.
4. Dacă pierzi teren lasă impresia că ai făcut-o intenţionat. Impune un principiu: am dat doi paşi înapoi, ca să-mi pot lua avânt.
5. Nu fura pe nimeni. Dacă o faci totuşi, schimbă obiectul într-o altă podoabă.
6. Nu refuza ajutorul imbecililor. Pentru a rămâne sus îţi trebuie unanimitate.
7. Nu-ţi explica greşelile. Învăluie-le în mister şi abstracţiune. Nu schimbă mare lucru, dar derutează.
8. Nu te întinde prea tare. Rişti să-ţi pierzi controlul graniţelor.
9. Nu lupta împotriva cabalelor întemeiate pe ambiţie şi frustrare. Îţi pierzi vremea, iar lor le creezi scop.
10. Dacă nu reuşeşti, modelează-ţi existenţa după principiul: “Nu se întâmplă decât ceea ce trebuie să se întâmple.” Este o dură, dar relaxantă fatalitate.
Dacă mă întrebaţi pe mine, cea mai frumoasă e porunca nr.1: “Nu îţi crea o imagine falsă. Este incomodă, greu de întreţinut şi uşor de depistat.”
Decalogul amorului – Ernest Maftei
1. Este iubire cand tu esti eu si eu sunt tu
2. Iubirea adevarata e atunci cand, iubind, ramai ferm, intelept si moral
3. Daca iubirea ta nu-l face pe cel iubit fericit, atunci iubirea se transforma in suferinta
4. Cand un barbat nu mai protejeaza femeia, inseamna ca nu o mai iubeste
5. Cand femeia nu-l mai admira pe barbat, inseamna ca nu-l mai iubeste
6. Trebuie sa iubesti numai pe aceea care te iubeste
7. Daca se inlatura iubirea si bunatatea, toata bucuria vietii dispare
8. Barbatul trebuie mai intai sa se racoreasca, pentru a putea face amor cu iubita dupa ce se insoara
9. Sa nu faci amor cu o femeie pe care n-o iubesti
10. Sexul e minunat cand doi oameni se iubesc
Decalog – Octavian Paler
1. Sa astepti oricât.
2. Sa astepti orice.
3. Sa nu-ti amintesti, în schimb, orice. Nu sunt bune decât amintirile care te ajuta sa traiesti în prezent.
4. Sa nu numeri zilele.
5. Sa nu uiti ca orice asteptare e provizorie, chiar daca dureaza toata viata.
6. Repeta ca nu exista pustiu. Exista doar incapacitatea noastra de a umple golul în care traim.
7. Nu pune în aceeasi oala si rugaciunea si pe Dumnezeu. Rugaciunea este uneori o forma de a spera a celui ce nu îndrazneste sa spere singur.
8. Daca gândul asta te ajuta, nu evita sa recunosti ca speri neavând altceva mai bun de facut sau chiar pentru a te feri de urmarile faptului ca nu faci nimic.
9. Binecuvânteaza ocazia de a-ti apartine în întregime. Singuratatea e o târfa care nu te învinuieste ca esti egoist.
10. Aminteste-ti ca paradisul a fost, aproape sigur, într-o grota.”
E Trist !
E trist…sa vrei sa fii neputincios in fata fricii.
Sa-ti lasi sufletul sa urle ingrozit de trecut si de viitor.
Sa fii prins intr-o cusca…sa-ti tii cheia in mina…si sa te temi de ceea ce este afara
De frumusete, de sentimente si trairi.
E trist sa te ascunzi…si sa nu iti lasi fiinta sa zburde libera.
E trist sa nu te daruiesti cu pasiune dragostei si suferintei.
E trist sa traiesti intr-o stare latenta de comfort ce totusi nu te satisface.
E trist sa nu visezi, sa nu speri, sa nu lupti…
E si mai trist cand esti constient de asta…si totusi lupti sa ramai asa
Si stai inchis acolo, cu sufletul ingrozit de trecut si viitor
Urland de durerea singuratatii…intr-o cusca de superficialitate si zambet fals.
E trist sa nu vrei sa TRAIESTI.
(again older images…but yet…as ususal…I do hope you enjoy them)
Offensive !?!
I will take on a conversation I had this morning , quite a good one I might add.
First I want to touch a bit the subject of radicalism. I know that non-believers (“atheists” – as they are often called , a name I don’t agree with but I will not write here about it ) have the tendency to argue against religion with same radical attitude as religion fights common sense and morality. That can not really be disagreed upon, because we know that is true. I got one side blinded many times in my long discussions on the subject and I found that I was getting carried away in my desire to convert somebody to the non-religion that atheism is. Another mistake that we do, as Alan de Botton so eloquently put it in his book ” Religion for Atheists” , is that we forget how important religion was to the culture we are so proud of, how scriptures embody some good text, some quite decent philosophy of life that deserves its right place in our literature and body of knowledge, and can become very educative and very inspiring without necessarily having any religious believes. A decent book is a decent book after all.
So to fight radicalism with radicalism is plain out wrong. To be moderate in remarks against radicalism and be patient while arguing your points is the way to go as radicals vs radicals can lead only to something even more radical. And that is applicable to all non-believers and believers alike.
In the way of arguing your point, either side you find yourself, where does one needs to obstruct his freedom of speech to run a bit short of being offensive? When I argue against obesity, I do make it a point to pin out the fact that I was fat, and that people are fat. If that is a fact, it is hard to find it offensive. I don’t run around and tell women are fat, not because I am afraid they might threaten my life (which some of them will probably do) but because I am a man, and in my unpolished ways, I do try to make a good impression on the beauty that a woman represents and that every man desires.Is just my evolutionary copulation instinct that stops me, and the image of my mother smacking the words right out of my mouth.
Who is to decide when something is offensive? a simple thing like telling my grandma that the food she learned how to cook from her mother, who learned it from her mother and so on…, is disgusting , will be highly offensive to her, and I can see some other three or four of her sisters feeling the same, as that would insult entire generations of her family. Is that offensive enough to cut off the right to free speech? Certainly my grandma and the rules of politeness would say that, but we all can agree that this can never be a law punishable offence.
So if I , a non-believer, say that presumably god is not great…or god is not…is that offensive? If I say that religion is the enemy of morality and common sense ? (history and today’s news bring great proof to support this argument) Is that offensive? Shouldn’t I then feel offended when I hear that god is? or god is great? or when I hear that orthodox priest every Sunday singing and preaching to his congregation? I should take offence at the thousands of religious people condemning me for not believing, calling me a sinful person, telling me that I will burn in hell?
But here I am , not offended even for a bit, because despite me getting a bit carried away with my arguments against deity and against blind faith in fiction , I value a good conversation, and I do appreciate people that hold their ground and come up with reasonable and thoughtful arguments in support of their side. And I stand by the affirmation that if one is in truth as religious as I am not, then we can only end such a conversation being a bit wiser, having learned something and with a stronger faith and confidence in our values.
I passionately believe that, despite our debates and conversations on the subject, despite all arguments, we should all respect each other as human beings. We should take great offence when we see famine and disease ravishing our brothers and sisters, we should take great offence at the wars fought for material profits that kill innocent people. We shouldn’t take offence at ideas. Doesn’t matter how long and how fierce we debate, ideas and thought and free speech are the forces that drive us forward.
As usual, I hope nobody will find my opinion offensive as it is not intended to offend, and I invite any valid and educated argument against it. Ignore this if you find it erratic and nonsensical ,or criticise it if you wish to…as long as you put some thought into it.
The images are not at all related to the subject, but I still hope you enjoy them.
Gand 6 !!!
“Singurele lucruri reale, singurele lucruri pe care le
ducem cu noi până la urmă sunt propriile noastre
sentimente, dragostele noastre, patemile noastre,
urile şi adversităţile noastre. Mă-ntreb: noi, la
capătul vieţii noastre, ce-am lăsa în afară?
Bănuiesc că putem lăsa nişte sentimente. Mai
puţin de ură, întrucâtva de patemi dar… de
dragoste mai ales.”
- Gand 6, Nichita Stanescu
My Old Foe!
My old Foe ! Yes it is True . And even though I should be wiser and maybe, while trying to make a living (just trying for now) somewhere where one should think of being more self contained when it comes to such affirmations , it looks like I am even more twisted than I thought, and the self-destructing instinct is kicking in to stand up for my believes, and against what I believe to be a major force of harm to humanity , morality and the contemporary society as a whole. And so, I pledge to stay honest to myself and bare the criticism of some of the people I most care for and some appreciation from others of the same…and hope for that to be the only worry and no other authorities will take notice of my humble writing and my modest attempt at big ideas. (an here I say to the one that I started to care for a great deal, maybe more than expected, that now I am trying to do my small part and hope will make even the slightest change in the bigger picture )
Just so you won’t be in a shadow of unsatisfied curiosity, my old Foe is RELIGION. We have and ongoing battle for quite a while now. I know I shouldn’t probably personalize religion as this gives it more importance that it deserves, and just looks rather stupid, but I do take this as being kind of a personal matter. You see, as a young man I found myself in situations were often I called for the one up there to just blow a bit of hope my way and in the way of the innocent around me falling pray to nature’s worst flesh and soul eating horrors. And still, every single week, way ahead of their time, souls were perishing into the abyss, and mothers’s tears were ever flowing on the white sheets were once lay their unfortunate children and you could almost hear their hearts screaming , you could almost smell the dreadful suffering and emptiness that was left behind in their worn out bodies.
I always believed that in that suffering I found the strength to fight against the most optimist predictions, and be here today to lay these words down, never forgetting what it took for me to be here. As a result , I can’t help it but feel deeply disturbed at how morality and human behaviour can be distorted by my sworn enemy – religion.
Just watch the news….Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Palestine (though it is widely publicised as being a terrorism issue, it takes only couple of clicks from a mouse to find that in Palestine is actually a religious conflict were Jews just want their promised land trough means that make the most genocidal maniac feel like an innocent child ), not too long ago England, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Burma. Couple of days back 9 people were killed in Egypt during sectarian violence (you see…the word religious violence is not used… because for convenience, Major religions become sects when it comes to unwanted publicity). The Religious leaders were keen in condemning the acts committed by their followers, but aren’t they the ones preaching the word of god to the same mobs that now find it suited to kill each other in the name of the god they so blindly believe in ? The leaders keep on claiming that the scriptures are widely misunderstood and therefore whatever it is written down in holy books is still to be followed, just that it is a bit harder to comprehend for some. Why not make it simple? why not make it clear? Easy to understand , easy to follow?
I wasn’t surprised when, during the many debates I had on this issue, I was given the excuse that god the all mighty made us, but he also gave us the power of free will, so therefore it is our choice to do good or evil, to go up to havens or go down in hell, though he watches over us, he forgives our sins, he can do miracles and save lives , but only when he wants to. And after all the lives of those poor bastards dying in such violence, or maybe the few millions children starving across the globe, or all those women and men mutilated through the cruel practice of circumcision are not worth the effort of a small miracle.(I know the argument for circumcision…and it just doesn’t hold up even for believers.It is and will always be mutilation. It just contradicts the religious view of us being made in the image of god. So circumcising somebody for religious purpose is admitting we are not perfect , therefore god is not perfect…and so on..)
I wrote this before… a wise man said that ” a bad man will do bad things, a good man will do good things. To make a good man do bad things you need religion”. And you have the example in today’s Egypt and Bangladesh. Neighbours, people of the same blood, that share the everyday struggle of living in a country ravished by a revolution, having the same fears of not having food to put on the table for their families, murder each other because of their gods. It is the perfect example on how religion can make good people do bad things.
So my dear friends, brothers and sisters, it doesn’t take much to be good…you just need to find it in you to stop believing in fairy tales, and as the child grows up from Santa Clause and Easter Bunny, maybe we should all grow up from this sick and twisted, gravely immoral Religion and move on to be better human beings, kinder, gentler , wiser. Lets love and be love, without categorising individuals on religion, colour, status and ranks in society. After all we are fighting a lost fight….and we all end up in the same dirt from were nature gives birth to its beauty. The journey we inevitably take to our ends doesn’t have to me marked by such cruel and immoral judgement. This journey can be beautiful !!! In essence that is all that life is…the beauty of the journey from birth to death.
Maybe I got carried away …but you surely get what I mean. As usual, I hope nobody will find my opinion offensive and I invite any valid and educated argument against it. Ignore this if you find it erratic and nonsensical ,or criticise it if you wish to…as long as you put some thought into it.
Thoughts and Nothing More!
I am tired. I sometimes just wish to sleep well…that kind of deep sleep that let’s you wake up rested, fresh, hungry for a new day… eager to take the morning light that paints the world deep in your soul and be happy. It’s simple but yet so hard to make this wish come true. I just can’t seem to be able to find what it takes. Probably too many thoughts, some wired, some crazy…but most of them ridiculously regular and unpretentious, that run through my mind and make my poorly energized grey matter overheat and my little skinny neurons cook. An so… I wake up and try to put all I have in a new day, a new beginning of an expected end where I find me still looking for those little things that makes our entire being smile. And I wake again, tired, and take on a new beginning….
I crawl forward…through time and space…doing all I can to find that back wind to put me back on my feet so I can once again walk my way through and tackle all that life throws at me with all my strength. I am aware that, if I try hard enough and I hold on long enough, that gush of wind will come…but I can not help asking when !
As contradicting as it may seem, I am an optimist, maybe to naive in my optimism at times, maybe to much of a dreamer at times, but I am an incurable optimist. I believe in me and I believe in human kind. I know we will all find what we are looking for…we just need to figure out what is it that we want to find just so we can happily wake up one morning and know that we have it.
As they are just thoughts…they don’t really need to make sense to you. If they are crazy…hope you enjoy the images (images, as usual, don’t match the writing )
