The Illusions of Life / Everybody Hurts / Friday: At School to Rehearse our Shakespeare Production

“Intellectuals solve problems;
geniuses
prevent them.”
– Albert Einstein (1879-1955),
Physicist and Nobel Laureate

                  Illusions?

There are
any number of problems
that seemingly require
a number
of solutions.

However,
many problems require
no solution.
They
were never problems
to begin with.

“There is always an easy solution
to every Human problem
– neat, plausible, and
wrong.”
– H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956),
American Journalist, Essayist, and Editor

MANY
things we consider problems
today,
are simply NOT.
They are
illusions.
In fact,
they are added to
what we perceive as
reality.
They become real
to us.

Our perception
of the World around us
is always literal.
We see
what we want
to see.

“As we learn to recognize
our perceptual errors,
we also learn to look past them
or “forgive.”
At the same time we are forgiving ourselves,
looking past our distorted self-concepts
to the Self That God created in us
and as us.”
– from “A Course in Miracles”
click here for more

But,
the illusions of Life
are
fascinating.
They add new
dimensions and depth
to our perception of
reality.
Life can become
not so boring,
but,
also ultimately
unbearable.

The Holy Word of God leads us directly to the answers.

Let us never deny
each other
the real reality
of our
Love.

The good
we fail to do,
far exceeds
the wrong
we do.
Far in excess,
we can prevent
what wrongs we may do
by sharing
the limitless Love
in our Hearts
today.

The illusions of Life are fascinating.

The Truth
is
always stranger
than fiction.
And that fact
has much to do
with the Nature
of Reality.

With all the
complex and fascinating things
that fill our lives,
the MOST mysterious
are the things
we are not privileged
to be aware of.
And being unaware,
does not mean
something does not
exist.

You
may not believe
in God.
But that does not mean
that God
does not believe
in YOU.

“Oh, everything matters
If anything matters at all.
Everything matters
No matter how big,
no matter how small.
Oh, God believes in you.
God believes in you.”
– Pierce Pettis

What is to be lived for
is not the illusion
of Life,
but the
Reality of Love.

“Great Miracles
were always proceeded
by Prayer.”

“If a problem has no solution,
it may not be a problem,
but a fact –
not to be solved,
but to be coped with
over time.”
– Shimon Peres
9th President of the State of Israel
Israel’s warrior for Peace was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994

My Friends,
IF
we become aware
of the Infinite power
and potential
of our own God given,
dynamic ability
to alter the very Nature
of what is real,
perhaps we can,
one day,
realize that there is
an Ultimate Reality.

And that
Genuine Reality
permeates beyond and
supersedes
everything we assume
is real.

Yes.
It may be difficult
to realize,
but there is
an Ultimate Reality,
a real Universal Consciousness.
And
the Holy Word of God
leads us directly
to the answers
we seek.

The Ultimate Reality,
the only Reality,
is Love.

“Love is the only reality
and it is not a mere sentiment.
It is the ultimate truth
that lies at the Heart
of Creation.”
– Rabindranath Tagore
Poet, Playwright, and Essayist
Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913

My Friends,
if you long for
the Truth,
if you want
the answers
to Life’s great, perplexing,
mysterious equations and questions,
the answer is
simple.

Love
is the answer.

And Love,
my Treasured Friends,
is the question,
the question
we need never ask
again.

Love.

Goodnight.

 “The day science begins to study
non-physical phenomena,
it will make more progress in one decade
than in all the previous centuries
of its existence.”
– Nikola Tesla

When your day is long
And the night, the night is yours alone,
When you’re sure you’ve had enough
Of this life,
well hang on.

Don’t let yourself go,
‘Cause everybody cries.
And everybody hurts sometimes.

Sometimes everything is wrong.
Now it’s time to sing along.
When your day is night alone (hold on, hold on).
If you feel like letting go (hold on).
If you think you’ve had too much
Of this life,
well hang on.

Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don’t throw your hand,
oh no.

Don’t throw your hand.
If you feel like you’re alone
No, no, no, you are not alone.

If you’re on your own in this Life,
The days and nights are long.
When you think you’ve had too much
of this Life to hang on.

Well,
everybody hurts
sometimes.
Everybody cries.
Everybody hurts sometimes.
And everybody hurts sometimes.
So hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,
hold on.
Everybody hurts.”
– William T. Berry, John M. Stipe, Peter L. Buck, Michael E. Mills
click here to play song

“Superfluous wealth
can buy superfluities
only.
Money is not required
to buy one necessity
of the Soul.”

– Henry David Thoreau

In Philosophy Class the week:

IMPORTANT DATES
May 14 & 15                      Shakespeare Theatrical Production at School
May 22- 25                        Adventure Trip
May 25                              Last Day of Semester

Important dates are posted each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.:
William’s Weblog at andersonschool.net

Lyrics/songs texts/paintings/articles
are property and copyright of their owners
and provided for educational purposes.

Copyright Disclaimer – Section 107 – Copyright Act 1976,
allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship,and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of “fair use”.

© Copyright 1995-2018 The Anderson Private School.
All Rights Reserved

   Fascinating things that fill our lives.

Through Loving Eyes / Matter is NOT the Only Reality / The MIND Diet / School Begins on a Cooler Day: Tuesday, Sept. 8

     LeVonna

Dedicated to the beautiful
Mother
of our wonderful children.
No greater Love
have I ever found.

Through Loving Eyes

A Mother will always see
Through her child’s eyes,
Always feel the vibrant Love,
Fast flowing like a raging torrent
To the Eternal Sea
Of God’s Love
In you
And me.

My Mother’s tears of pain and joy
I keep deep inside
This heart of mine,
As I find my tears
Do not belong to me.

They flow everlastingly
Through those that Love,
In Eternal Rivers
That nourish Life,
And wash away
Our sins,
Assuage our grief,
And transform,
In the mirror of our memory
Into tears of forgiveness,
Comforted by our Belief.

Clouds of disbelief
Only block the Sun,
Placed in the Firmament Above
By God on the second day
Of His Love.
Into this vast expanse,
He set the moon, the stars and the sun,
To shine down upon
Everyone.

Some people never see the Light until the day they die. – Neil Diamond

Do not let the darkness
And doubt of others,
The fear that knows not Love,
Shield you
From His Comfort.
The shelter you seek
From the storms of living
Dwells not in the elements of life.
It lay in wait,
Sacred and Silent in patient Vigil,
Inside a heart
Filled with Love,
Devoid of hate.

You can travel for miles
In your child’s smiles.
Far beyond the borders
Of this moment,
Into a tomorrow
Which will never end.

Such is the Love of God
In you,
Eternal Love
Flowing everlastingly,
And in the very same moment,
Into and out of
A Vast Sacred Sea.

  The reason God is real.

  Unique
In all the ways of the world,
The Blessed Love of every child
Is the Salvation
Of all Mankind,
The justification for being,
The Hope of tomorrow fulfilled,
The end of all doubt,
The reason
God is real.

Painting of Jesus by Akiane Kramarik       (read more)

God Loved us
Enough to share
The Love of a Child,
His Child.
And no greater Love
Could He feel.

His Child looked at Mankind
Through other children’s eyes,
And shared the vibrant Love,
The Eternal Warmth,
Hope everlasting,
From Above.

We pretend never and are Forever.

Every kind thought
Tells us who we are,
Every deed
Where we are,
Every Prayer
Why we are.

And what is Love?

Easy to ask,
So easy to see.
Love is the Mother
Who gives us life.
Love is the breath
Of her precious being.

Like the soft wind blowing,
As God formed man from
The dust of this Earth
And breathed into his nostrils
The breath of Love we call Life,
And child of clay
Became a living being.

A Mother whispers of this
Love Everlasting,
As she looks deeply into our eyes
Promising tomorrow,
With Love
That never dies.

  Such is the Love all around us.

What is Love?

Love is God in us.
Ask and He will reveal
Love,
Pure,
Powerful,
Everlasting,
The only thing
That is Real.

If we could but know
That every child is ours,
That every child is us,
And we are all Sacred Children
Of God.

Our children are of our Love,
Our lives of the far reaches of Forever,
And our sins made of
What is given,
To be forgiven.

My friends,
The Love of God is in us
And all around us,
In the Leaves that flutter
Gently in the wind,
The Colors of evening shades,
Shadows of silver
Floating slowly over
The landscapes of our brief lives,
As we pretend never,
And are Forever.
Such is the Love all around us,
Here,
And ever after.

A Mother’s precious Love,
Is a Sacred Sacrifice
For those who come after.
The precious Love of a Mother,
Forever in Love,
And forever after.

Every child is ours, every child is us.

“Children are mankind’s best and last hope.
Like the young of all creatures, they want to like,
they want to love, and they will love,
unless deliberately and carefully taught otherwise.
For this is the true education
– of the heart.”
– Oskar Schindler

Oskar and Emilie Schindler – With rare courage and deep compassion they saved hundreds of precious lives during World War II.

Matter is NOT the ONLY reality

Quantum mechanics has questioned
the material foundations of the world
by showing that atoms and subatomic particles
are not really solid objects,
they do not exist with certainty
at definite spatial locations and definite times.
Most importantly, Quantum Mechanics
explicitly introduced the mind
into its basic conceptual structure,
since it was found that particles being observed
and the observer, are linked.
This phenomenon implies
that the consciousness of the observer
is vital to the existence
of the physical events being observed,
and that mental events
affect the physical world.”

Matter is NOT the only reality.
In fact,
It may not be reality
at all.
READ MORE

“The day science begins
to study non-physical phenomena,
it will make more progress in one decade
than in all the previous centuries
of its existence.”
– Nikola Tesla

The MIND diet
may slow brain aging by 7.5 years

The MIND diet,
which is short for “Mediterranean-DASH Diet
Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay,”
was developed by Martha Clare Morris, ScD,
a nutritional epidemiologist, and her colleagues.

Everyone experiences decline with aging;
and Alzheimer’s disease is now
the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.

 As the name suggests,
the MIND diet is a hybrid of the Mediterranean
and DASH
(Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets.
Both have been found to reduce the risk
of cardiovascular conditions,
like hypertension, heart attack and stroke. read more

The MIND diet
has 15 dietary components,
including 10 “brain-healthy food groups”

The study found that to avoid the devastating effects of
cognitive decline, you must limit intake
of the designated unhealthy foods,
especially butter (less than 1 tablespoon a day),
sweets and pastries, whole fat cheese,
and fried or fast food.

To adhere to and benefit from the MIND diet,
a person would need to eat
at least three servings of whole grains,
a green leafy vegetable
and one other vegetable every day,
along with a glass of red-grape juice,
snack most days on nuts,
have beans every other day or so,
eat poultry and berries at least twice a week
and fish at least once a week.

Berries are the only fruit specifically
to be included in the MIND diet.
Blueberries are one of the more potent foods
in terms of protecting the brain.

read more

The Gift of Single-mindedness / Our Dragonflies are Grateful for the Pesticide Free Campus

Getting children to think is easy,
If you think about it.
But don’t think too much.

“Do everything in moderation,
including moderation.” 
– Benjamin Franklin
Inventor of many things, including
The United States of America

Moderation is the best advise
I have encountered.
The violation of this admonition
Is why a few of us
Are driving a Tesla.
This poor man,
Who changed the way the whole world lives,
Did not heed this gentle warning.

     Emerson

“The sanity of society
is a balance of a thousand insanities.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nikola Tesla, according to Life Magazine’s
Special issue of September, 1997,
Is among the 100 most famous people
Of the last 1,000 years.
He did not become insane,
As we may be able to define it,
At the end of his life,
For he was like that his entire life.
The line between insanity and genius
Is thin
And often does not exist.

“There is no great genius
without some touch of madness.“
                       – Seneca

This assumption is reasonable within
The levels of intelligence he demonstrated.
Thinking far too much
Contributed to his lonely, withdrawn existence.
He died without ever getting married
Or having the joy of children
To drive him insane.
read more

 “When we remember that we are all mad,
the mysteries disappear
and life stands explained.”
– Mark Twain

NIKOLA TESLA

WE ARE OF SINGLE MIND

My friends,
The awareness of
Our ability, or disability,
As some may view it,
To think of one,
And ONLY one,
Thing at a time,
Can become a gift of Life.

But this phenomenon can become
A deadly exercise in poor judgement,
If you think you can text while driving.
Not fully knowing that the human brain
Simply switches rapidly back and forth
From one thought to another,
Has cost much needless suffering
And many lives.

You, and I, are capable of thinking
About only ONE thing at a time.
Research (read more) has proven this
Time after time.
Oh, there are exceptions,
Very few,
But these exceptions are not me,
And they are not you.

 The myth of multitasking has never been stronger.
But researchers prove it is a myth
And they have the data to prove it.

As we discussed in my class in
Philosophy, The Art of Wondering,
Humans don’t do things simultaneously.
Instead, we switch our attention from task to task
Extremely fast,
Or, if you are like me,
A little slower.

And, if you are like me,
Drink another fruit smoothie
And think only about
Getting the very last drop.
Staring into the bottom of the cup
Is a deep enough thought,
When you stop thinking about it.
For those of you who referred to me
As an old smoothie,
You were about 40% right.
The rest is made up of water
Three brain cells
And one nerve ending.
I keep asking my students
Not to step on that.

“In order to act,
you must be somewhat insane.
A reasonably sensible man
is satisfied with thinking.”
– Georges Clemenceau

According to Meyer, Evans and Rubinstein,
“Multitasking may seem efficient on the surface
But may actually take more time in the end
And involves more error.
Mental blocks created by shifting between tasks
Can cost as much as 40 percent of
Someone’s productive time.”
(This explains texting and auto accidents.)
read more

“The brain is very good
at deluding itself.”
– neuroscientist Earl Miller

But there is unbelievable beauty
In our awareness
Of ourselves.

This inability (to multitask)
Like so very, very many things,
Should be recognized as a Gift,
A singular ability,
A Blessing,
If you think about it,
But not too much.
Remember, moderation in everything
Including moderation.

But what exactly does that mean?
What is a moderate, moderate.
I think we keep looking for that being
To elect to public office –
A moderate, moderate.
But since I do not know
What this is,
I do not know
Who this is
To vote for.

 We humans may eventually evolve
Into beings that can think
More than ONE thought
At a time,
Perhaps, even thinking about
EVERYTHING at once,
Much like the quantum computers
We are now creating.
(read more here to blow your mind out of calm waters)

Such a God like quality
May bring us
“Nearer My God to Thee”,
But so far,
Our single-mindedness has brought us
The internet,
Fruit smoothies (Thank you Lord!) and
The Atomic Bomb.

I Pray
That enabling even more capability,
Doesn’t also blow up
In our hands.

But my dear Friends,
Hidden very deep within the folds
Of our SINGULAR ability
To think one thought at a time,
Lies a secret to a happy life.
Knowing that you can think about
One, and only ONE thing
At a time
Is a truly precious insight.

It is your awareness
Of this
That is of value,
Not the knowing itself,
Not the thing you know you can
Or cannot do.

Hang in there.
I am swimming to
The shallow end of the pool,
Running out of air,
Breathing deep and
Taking in more water.
This is where more children my age go
To have fun.

Knowing that your mind can harbor
Only ONE thought at a time –
Being fully aware of this –
Can place you in control
Of the next moment,
The next hour,
In control of your life.

If in THIS moment
You are sad, regretful or depressed,
Quickly,
Do something else,
Something you may call distracting,
That you know would not be unpleasant, painful,
Something that would be, in fact, pleasurable,
Anything, including just jumping into the pool.
Hey, try it with all your clothes on –
Then you’ll have something to remember!
That will really take your mind off your miseries.
You will laugh so hard
You may not be able to get out of the pool
By yourself, without help.
So, pull the helper
Into the water with you!
That will make your day,
And his.

Life need NOT
Be uneventful.

I pushed my sweet LeVonna
Into a swimming pool fully clothed.
She never strolled by another pool
Standing close to me again.
It still makes my day
Just thinking about it.

Are you getting the picture yet?
Hey, (west Texan for, Hey)
You can be fully in control
Of this moment,
Of your mind,
Of your mood.

By the way,
Pushing her into the pool
Was the last moment
I felt any kind of control of her.
What boggles my mind is,
She then said “Yes”,
And were married shortly thereafter.
Crazy pays.

Try other distracting things:
To putting on a favorite movie,
To calling a good friend
(that’s what they are for, silly),
To taking a nice, warm (or ice cold) bath,
To opening a really good book,
To cuddling with the dog or cat,
To saying something funny,
Or preparing something great to eat
Or eating that great something,
Or shopping
(great therapy, just ask the Ladies)
Or best yet:
Totally immersing yourself in
Helping someone else in need.

You get the idea.

You are in charge, in control
In command of the very next moment,
The next hour
The rest of the beautiful day,
A beautiful Life.
You are so singular in your ability
To think,
That you have nothing more
To be responsible for
Than the next thought
About the next moment.

WE cannot think two thoughts
At the same moment,
(Thank you Lord),
So take control of the only thing
You need to control
Or can control.
And keep on controlling.

Remember,
You simply cannot worry
About tomorrow
While you are on a high speed roller coaster,
(Isn’t that right, Ian?)
In a hot air balloon,
Or full of hot air, like me,
Or right after
You were stung by a honey bee
(It happens when your trying to help them.
We house these beautiful creations
behind our house.)

Life, my friend,
Is a SERIES
Of small pleasures,
Distractions,
Moments
YOU make.

So stay in motion.

Make every “momentous” decision
One for Joy.
Don’t leave room in your mind,
Or your precious Heart,
For even one second of sadness.
God has empowered you
To think,
To do,
To act,
And to Love life.
He Loved you enough
To give you Life.
And He will Love you
Long after.

Yes,
God has empowered you
To Love your life,
To Love every person you meet,
To Love every turtle crossing the street
(they are now ALL endangered species),
Every cricket keeping you awake,
Every river you cross,
Every thought
That flows into the Eternal Sea.

Never stop acting,
Deciding, moving your mind
To do the things that
Bring joy into life.
It is
Your decision.
And it always has been,
And always will be.

Get out of your chair,
Kick open the front door,
And run –
Toward anything or anyone
That has ever made you happy,
That will bring you pure Joy
Again and again and again.

Life,
Is a SERIES
Of small pleasures.

My dear friends,
It is no longer necessary
For you to be unhappy,
To live without Joy
In your life.

Being aware
Of the Love of God
For you,
Of your awareness of life,
It’s limitations,
It’s opportunities
And your ability to
Command the next moment of
Your presence on this Beautiful Earth,
Can free your mind,
And your precious Heart,
From all fear,
Despair, boredom
And hopelessness.

Take time
To contemplate
The rare beauty of your existence,
Of this awesome moment,
That is the true Treasure
Of your brief time.

Capture the next moment in time
Take command of what you do,
And then, share your story.
So many others need help along the way.

My Precious Friend,
You are Morning,
Before Tomorrow comes the night,
And Blessed are the moments
In which you take the time
To sing your song,
To Blossom in God’s Spring,
To bring warmth to Hearts in need,
And feel the Sacred Rain,
That ever so gently falls
In tears,
From all the Joy
You bring.

May the Joy of our Lord
Always abide
In your
Very Precious Heart.

Our school has a large number of
Beautiful Dragon Flies.
In twenty years
I have never been bitten by a mosquito at school.
I don’t know of any other place
Where one can make the same claim.

Dragonflies also feed on other insects like flies.
Once hatched, the larva of the Dragonfly
Becomes an aquatic predator,
Feeding on other aquatic insects,
Including mosquito eggs and larvae.
The mosquito is the deadliest
Creature on planet Earth.
They are the deadliest,
because they spread so much disease.
Mosquitoes are responsible
For the deaths of many hundreds of thousands
Of people every year.
Estimates are difficult to come by.

Maintaining a pesticide free environment
Pays huge dividends.
Not only for the safety of our precious children,
But for so many of God’s other
Stunningly beautiful Creations.
And since Humans are
The number two killer on the planet,
I recommend
Hate Free Environments.
Now there’s an idea
Worth thinking about.
But we haven’t thought about that much,
Have we?

if you are installing a bug zapper to fight mosquitoes,
And have a Dragonfly population,
Turn it off.
It zaps the beautiful dragonflies, too.

My precious Rosie shared countless small moments of pure joy with me for 18 years and one month. She still resides deeply embedded in my heart. Life, is a SERIES Of small pleasures. And I cannot count the number she gave to me. Sometimes, the greatest Gifts are very small indeed. God Blesses us in ways we are not always fully aware of.