Well, it's been a little crazy for me today so I haven't had a chance to read anything. So what I'll do is surf through some stuff I've already read and try to find something good for today. In the mean time I'm going to listen to music and type random stuff here to fill time. I was really hoping to pick up a new book today at the store since I just finished the last one I was reading. Sadly I didn't find one that I liked but ended up getting 3 new books that I'm borrowing from my neighbor. Alright, back to typing after fending off the facebook updates and messages that just came my way. I finally found a quote I deemed worthy for today, and here, here it goes!
"There are two ways in which the human machine goes wrong. One is when human individuals drift apart from one another, or else collide with one another and do one another damage, by cheating or bullying. The other is when things go wrong inside the individual---when the different parts of him (his different faculties and desires and so on) either drift apart or interfere with one another. You can get the idea plain if you think of us as a fleet of ships sailing in formation. The voyage will be a success only, in the first place, if the ships do not collide and get in one another's way; and, secondly, if each ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good order. As a matter of fact, you cannot have either of these two things without the other. If the ships keep on having collisions they will not remain seaworthy very long. On the other hand, if their steering gears are out of order they will not be able to avoid collisions. Or, if you like, think of humanity as a band playing a tune. To get a good result, you need two things. Each player's individual instrument must be in tune and also each must come in at the right moment so as to combine with all the others.
But there is one thing we have not yet taken into account. We have not asked where the fleet is trying to get to, or what piece of music the band is trying to play. The instruments might be all in tune and might all come in at the right moment, but even so the performance would not be a success if they had been engaged to provide dance music and actually played nothing but Dead Marches. And however well the fleet sailed, its voyage would be a failure if it were meant to reach New York and actually arrived in Calcutta.
Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play."
~ C.S. Lewis
Morality, it's everyone's job. But why have morals? Even some of the darkest characters in history may have had some good morals. Which ones are good and which aren't? Why live by them? I can't really answer that for you, but just something to think about.
Currently listening to: "Primrose Lane" by Jerry Wallace. Taking you back to 1959!
-J
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Making progress
I wanted to start this post off by saying thank you to everyone that has read my blog so far and to anyone that supports it. It means a lot to me and I hope you have gotten something out of reading it as well. So far it looks like I've had 68 page views with 3 followers and some comments already. I never would have expected that just within the first 60 hours of having my blog. So again, thank you.
Onto the quote for the day:
"We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on." ~ C.S. Lewis
I know I've had my own problems in life with being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. Have you? Have you ever done that at first then decided to own up and go back to the right road? How did you feel when you did that? Just something to think about. Feel free to answer in the comments if you'd like, or just think about it privately with yourself. Are you ready to start making progress?
Listening to: "Dance, dance" by Fall Out Boy
-J
Onto the quote for the day:
"We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on." ~ C.S. Lewis
I know I've had my own problems in life with being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. Have you? Have you ever done that at first then decided to own up and go back to the right road? How did you feel when you did that? Just something to think about. Feel free to answer in the comments if you'd like, or just think about it privately with yourself. Are you ready to start making progress?
Listening to: "Dance, dance" by Fall Out Boy
-J
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Looking forward
Look at this! Posting 2 days in a row. I'm excited and surprised actually. One thing people might know about me if they know anything at all is that I'm a procrastinator and am often lazy. But for some reason I enjoy doing this and I hope to continue and I hope that maybe my blog will help someone somewhere today or in the future. One thing I will look to do is build obedience as I write these posts and try to do 1 a day. I apologize if for some reason I don't post on a certain day, but I'm not sure if that would even be missed by anyone haha. Speaking of obedience, that brings me to the quote for the day:
"You can't see through to the future. Looking forward is often cloudy. Muddled. You fly blind. Except for one thing: obedience. It's like sonar. Obedience will not remove obstacles. It will only help you navigate through them. But it does have its requirements: Obedience compels us to live by trust and obedience, not by results and rewards. No preset guarantees. Only promises" ~ Wayne Cordeiro
I remember when you used to write blogs or whatever they were called on myspace you could attach a mood and a song that you were perhaps listening to while you wrote your blog. I thought it'd be fun if I at least incorporated the song I was listening to while writing this. Well, the song at which was playing when I ended it. I usually get through 2 or 3 songs while doing these. That's something that could be cool to people, perhaps you would have never heard of the band or song and look it up and like it. Who knows. Now I will be upfront, if this continues you might see a trend in my music that there is no trend. I do listen to mostly everything and I just let my itunes play on shuffle to see what it picks.
Anywho right now "Wordsworth's ridge" by Sufjan Stevens is playing. I think he has a quite soothing voice accompanied often by soothing string instruments.
-J
"You can't see through to the future. Looking forward is often cloudy. Muddled. You fly blind. Except for one thing: obedience. It's like sonar. Obedience will not remove obstacles. It will only help you navigate through them. But it does have its requirements: Obedience compels us to live by trust and obedience, not by results and rewards. No preset guarantees. Only promises" ~ Wayne Cordeiro
I remember when you used to write blogs or whatever they were called on myspace you could attach a mood and a song that you were perhaps listening to while you wrote your blog. I thought it'd be fun if I at least incorporated the song I was listening to while writing this. Well, the song at which was playing when I ended it. I usually get through 2 or 3 songs while doing these. That's something that could be cool to people, perhaps you would have never heard of the band or song and look it up and like it. Who knows. Now I will be upfront, if this continues you might see a trend in my music that there is no trend. I do listen to mostly everything and I just let my itunes play on shuffle to see what it picks.
Anywho right now "Wordsworth's ridge" by Sufjan Stevens is playing. I think he has a quite soothing voice accompanied often by soothing string instruments.
-J
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
I'll take wisdom any day.
I really like this quote. I'll let it do the rest of the speaking for itself. Perhaps in future posts I will include more of why I like them or not, perhaps not. I'll have to figure that out when it comes.
A Choice of Instructors
"Life has given us two very effective teachers. Both are top-flight instructors, but neither comes cheap. While both are effective, both require something of us. We have to choose one or the other, and if we choose neither, the second will be chosen for us.
The teachers are Wisdom and Consequences.
We can learn a great deal from either teacher. I should warn you, however, of the huge difference in their instructional styles. While Wisdom will amaze and delight us with her lessons, Consequences will leave us breathless---and not in a good way. The truth is, Consequences is by far the tougher teacher of the two. For one thing, Consequences' enrollment cost and ongoing tuition are sky-high. Oh, she'll teach us well, all right---but by the time we learn her lessons, her instruction may have cost us years. It may have cost us our marriage, our family, our job, our ministry, perhaps even our life. Consequences has a huge back-end cost.
In your younger years, did you ever think you were Superman or Wonder Woman . . . and then jump off a fence or a doghouse to prove it? Not long ago a friend of mine, reflecting on his childhood, told me how his big brother convinced him he was Superboy. Nothing could hurt him! In fact, to prove it, his older brother challenged him to walk over to a patch of white clover and step barefoot on one of the busy honeybees attending the blossoms.
His brother was very convincing. My friend took his little bare feet over to the clover and trod on a bee. He said he didn't know which hurt the most, the stinger in his foot or the realization that he'd been deceived.
He was vulnerable after all.
Every one of us has learned something from personal experience that has made us a little wiser. But such lessons, lessons learned from Consequences, inflict real suffering and acute pain---and sometimes they're much, much more injurious than a bee sting." ~ Wayne Cordeiro
I'm going to stop it there. It goes on a bit more and if interested for more feel free to ask. Thanks for reading.
-J
A Choice of Instructors
"Life has given us two very effective teachers. Both are top-flight instructors, but neither comes cheap. While both are effective, both require something of us. We have to choose one or the other, and if we choose neither, the second will be chosen for us.
The teachers are Wisdom and Consequences.
We can learn a great deal from either teacher. I should warn you, however, of the huge difference in their instructional styles. While Wisdom will amaze and delight us with her lessons, Consequences will leave us breathless---and not in a good way. The truth is, Consequences is by far the tougher teacher of the two. For one thing, Consequences' enrollment cost and ongoing tuition are sky-high. Oh, she'll teach us well, all right---but by the time we learn her lessons, her instruction may have cost us years. It may have cost us our marriage, our family, our job, our ministry, perhaps even our life. Consequences has a huge back-end cost.
In your younger years, did you ever think you were Superman or Wonder Woman . . . and then jump off a fence or a doghouse to prove it? Not long ago a friend of mine, reflecting on his childhood, told me how his big brother convinced him he was Superboy. Nothing could hurt him! In fact, to prove it, his older brother challenged him to walk over to a patch of white clover and step barefoot on one of the busy honeybees attending the blossoms.
His brother was very convincing. My friend took his little bare feet over to the clover and trod on a bee. He said he didn't know which hurt the most, the stinger in his foot or the realization that he'd been deceived.
He was vulnerable after all.
Every one of us has learned something from personal experience that has made us a little wiser. But such lessons, lessons learned from Consequences, inflict real suffering and acute pain---and sometimes they're much, much more injurious than a bee sting." ~ Wayne Cordeiro
I'm going to stop it there. It goes on a bit more and if interested for more feel free to ask. Thanks for reading.
-J
The Very First Post! TVFP
After opening my blogspot account like 2 weeks ago I've been thinking about what I would actually put on here. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Then as I began to read more books I kept coming across quotes I really enjoyed, and instead of flooding facebook with them or just forgetting about them as I put the book back onto the shelf. I decided to put them on here, so I would have a collection of them but could also share them with friends and strangers.
As I continue to post quote I'd really love input from my readers. Such as: Your quotes are too short, or perhaps too long, your quotes don't seem to be funny enough, or they are not inspirational enough. I will of course take all of these comments into consideration when making future posts. Also feel free to discuss the quote among yourselves in the comments. I'd prefer no arguing, but of course I probably can't stop that. Hopefully it doesn't happen though.
I will warn everyone reading this that I've been mostly reading Christian books lately, and not novels. More or less Christian literature to help grow in the faith and to help teach me and others how Christians are supposed to act. I will however steer clear as much as I can from just posting religious quotes. I am going to only take points from these books that can be looked at and viewed by believers as well as non-believers and the same outcome reached. Well, as same an outcome is possible.
If anybody has any questions about the quote like where it came from or why I picked it or why I liked it or anything for that matter I don't mind being contacted and I will gladly get back to you as soon as I can. I'm sure for a long long time, if not forever my blog will not be immensely popular so the response time really shouldn't be that long.
I will be relying on you my fans (of which I have none at the point of writing this) to get the word out on this blog. I'm merely doing this to share knowledge, and in my next post (which will be my first quote) we will learn how wisdom is very important in life. My goal with this is to provide information that should help everyone in their day-to-day life. Whether it helps them individually or maybe it would spark them to be more charitable, or nicer to a fellow person. In which case improving the overall happiness in the world.
Anyway, I'm done talking for now, I hope you all enjoy and remember (this will actually be my first quote) a bit of history on this quote before I actually write it. Someone who was struggling in life and their career had read a book from the past that greatly helped them out of their slump and this is him talking about the situation. "What if my trip to The Archives yielded not just one but dozens of such books, each offering insightful lessons from the past that could save me years of hurtful consequences? What would that be worth? If I could get other great men and women of history to write down for me their mistakes and successes, I'd pay thirty thousand for it, easily. It would be a bargain. A steal!"
And there we have it. From others previously studied knowledge, mistakes and successes we can learn greatly. And that is why I'm starting this list of quotes. Please enjoy responsibly.
-J
As I continue to post quote I'd really love input from my readers. Such as: Your quotes are too short, or perhaps too long, your quotes don't seem to be funny enough, or they are not inspirational enough. I will of course take all of these comments into consideration when making future posts. Also feel free to discuss the quote among yourselves in the comments. I'd prefer no arguing, but of course I probably can't stop that. Hopefully it doesn't happen though.
I will warn everyone reading this that I've been mostly reading Christian books lately, and not novels. More or less Christian literature to help grow in the faith and to help teach me and others how Christians are supposed to act. I will however steer clear as much as I can from just posting religious quotes. I am going to only take points from these books that can be looked at and viewed by believers as well as non-believers and the same outcome reached. Well, as same an outcome is possible.
If anybody has any questions about the quote like where it came from or why I picked it or why I liked it or anything for that matter I don't mind being contacted and I will gladly get back to you as soon as I can. I'm sure for a long long time, if not forever my blog will not be immensely popular so the response time really shouldn't be that long.
I will be relying on you my fans (of which I have none at the point of writing this) to get the word out on this blog. I'm merely doing this to share knowledge, and in my next post (which will be my first quote) we will learn how wisdom is very important in life. My goal with this is to provide information that should help everyone in their day-to-day life. Whether it helps them individually or maybe it would spark them to be more charitable, or nicer to a fellow person. In which case improving the overall happiness in the world.
Anyway, I'm done talking for now, I hope you all enjoy and remember (this will actually be my first quote) a bit of history on this quote before I actually write it. Someone who was struggling in life and their career had read a book from the past that greatly helped them out of their slump and this is him talking about the situation. "What if my trip to The Archives yielded not just one but dozens of such books, each offering insightful lessons from the past that could save me years of hurtful consequences? What would that be worth? If I could get other great men and women of history to write down for me their mistakes and successes, I'd pay thirty thousand for it, easily. It would be a bargain. A steal!"
And there we have it. From others previously studied knowledge, mistakes and successes we can learn greatly. And that is why I'm starting this list of quotes. Please enjoy responsibly.
-J
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)