/:-)

I came to read about the Stoics tonight by a roundabout way when I looked up Origen on aureantes' recommendation. (A great deal of the enlightenment I come by these days comes from his direction, directly or indirectly. :-*) Stoicism feels familiar to me, and is more harmonic to the views I hold than a lot of belief systems I've come across. Collected here are a few quotes I want to remember...

From Epictetus:

"First, decide who you would be. Then, do what you must do."

"If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."

"In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind, is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our opinions and the decisions of our will."

"Where is the good? In the will. Where is the evil? In the will. Where is neither of them? In those things which are independent of the will."

"Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them."

"No man is free who is not master of himself."

"Every person must deal with each thing according to the opinion that he holds about it."

Marcus Aurelius:

"Get rid of the judgement ... get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself."

"The mind in itself wants nothing, unless it creates a want for itself; therefore it is both free from perturbation and unimpeded, if it does not perturb and impede itself."

"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no man able to prevent this."

"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life!"

Seneca:

"The soul should know whither it is going and whence it came, what is good for it and what is evil, what it seeks and what it avoids, and what is that Reason which distinguishes between the desirable and the undesirable, and thereby tames the madness of our desires and calms the violence of our fears."

"Virtue is nothing else than right reason."

Filing a grievance with the union....

Okay, this thing was just brought to my attention...

*facepalm... headdesk*

Allright, lest I be misunderstood, here's the thing. It's great that they want to raise positive energy and all that. Loverly idea, I'm all for that. But-- Lookit, does it have to be so ruddy fluffy, so kiddie and-- vapid??? Jesus H. Christ on a tricycle wearing a propeller-beanie, people!!! (no offense to Christian friends, it's more of a prayer and a plea for patience than anything, I swear.) Have they read none of the lore?? Sweetness and light only describes 25% of the fae if that!!! Not to mention that it's entirely possible to be in touch with one's inner child while maintaing some intelligence about things.

I've been reading some of the 'messages' that they're saying people recieved from the fae, and I tell you here and now they can't have been very good recievers.

Example:

Nothing to Do
BE
There is no other
Beezness

A. The fae are better poets than that.

Now, on a more serious note... Nothing to do? NOTHING TO DO?????? *facepalm... headdesk.....* Passivity accomplishes nothing except getting the people who care about things out of the way of people who just want to exploit. It's because of the passivity of good people (and the apathy of the indifferent) that people like Bush get into power! (You knew it was coming, it's the most obvious example.)
So what are they recommending? That they BE him away?
No real faery would suggest such a thing as inaction in the face of the wrong things in the world. Read the legends, people. Fae don't tolerate wrongs at all that lightly.

*wanders off grumbling insultedly*

(no subject)

Chris Miles grew up in Utah and likes Utah and the West very much, especially for the skiing, hiking, and general natural beauty. He graduated in art from the University of Utah in 1990 and then moved to New York City, where he illustrated for magazines, book covers, and children's books. While in New York he also took some side trips into publishing a volunteer neighborhood newspaper and teaching English as a Second Language. In 2000 he returned to Salt Lake and have been doing fine art since. He paints full time. Born and raised in Maine in a family of seven children, Daniel Merriam  fell in love with art at an early age, creating some of his first artistic designs on grocery bags. This self taught artist has already earned a Broderson Award, a Maine Press Association Award for his editorial cartoons, and an Honorary Masters of Humane Letters from the University of New England in recognition of the potential social contribution of his work.   Daniel Merriam's paintings are dreams in full color. They beckon for the viewer to join a journey into the imagination, where the worlds of reality and fantasy collide in an explosion of color, shapes and symbolism.