R_P wrote:
 

Pompous. Dogmatic.

 Ohmsen wrote:
 

"as viewed through other nations' and peoples' lenses"

Bingo.  They don't understand that this is in fact their reality check.

Now there's a concept.  Until  someone has personally had the revelation of comparing their daily reality to some other POV, they'll never firmly grasp whether or not 'their view' has actually become twisted and distorted to fit reality.  Twisting facts until they support a predisposed view.

Instead, they dismiss anyone outside their perceived realm of expertise as "not having any skin in the game".  That statement right there reveals how little they understand how the world works.

It's a real shame that the American presidential term is only four years.  Eight or ten years of the leftist progressive agenda should be enough to be remembered by two or three generations of voters.

 KarmaKarma wrote:
 
The lack of self-reflection in some is simply saddening. Maiming for words... but the cliché of 'Ignorant Americans' as viewed through other nations' and peoples' lenses oftentimes seems hard to overcome, very, very sadly. Thought police is still standing strong, unfortunately. It always seems to be about me and my, and us vs. them. As some have already mentioned in other threads, ghosh... stop these false images, please. 

Finally, posters expecting others to have an agenda making others "shills" in their view, mostly neglect the view into their own mirror. Always pointing fingers at others, they forget that pointing an index finger away from their body leaves three fingers pointing back at themselves. 

God, have mercy, please!

 Ohmsen wrote:
 

So you're the one who took my gig here.  harumph

islander wrote:
 
Thank you kindly, and let me guess...... I am shilling for Trump, again?! - Yer so sharp! Must be!!
The good folks in this forum will have to thank you for eons to come, I'm sure... because you keep giving them your heads-up, even unasked. What a thalassophile guy... roaring applause! When are ya gonna jump into the water? Now might just be the right time for ya sea-loving dude, right on your home-shore. 

Sorry for having to leave my "dying man's poise" for a minute, y'all (rest of you folks reading this), seriously.

 Ohmsen wrote:
 

You forgot to add < random oddly annotated picture > to make it look like you are not a shill.

Beyond
meditation practice,
there is attitude. A beginner
must learn to cultivate what is called,
“the poise of a dying man”. What is this poise?
It is the poise of knowing what is important and what
is not, and of being accepting and forgiving. Anyone who has
ever been at the bedside of a dying man will understand
this poise. What would the dying man do if someone
were to insult him? Nothing. What would
the dying man do if someone
were to strike him?
Nothing.

As
he lay there,
would he scheme to
become famous or wealthy?
No. If someone who had once offended
him were to ask him for his forgiveness would he
not give it? Of course he would. A dying man knows
the pointlessness of enmity. Hatred is always
such a wretched feeling. Who wishes to
die feeling hatred in his heart?
No one. The dying
seek love and
peace.

Hsu-Yun
(Empty Cloud)

 Red_Dragon wrote:

 

And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."

~The Book of Armaments, chapter two, verses nine to twenty-one (abbreviated)

Uncle Lomax: 5150

Matthew 24

John 9

It is better to strive in one's own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another.
Nothing is ever lost in following one's own dharma,
but competition in another's dharma breeds fear and insecurity.

~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3 Selfless Service, Verse 35

 black321 wrote: 
Nice thoughts, for those that doomscroll and seek out ways to upset their personal apple carts.

I guess that I am ahead of the game because I do not do news feeds.  Never have and likely never will.

I suppose that I will pray for those of you who do ... if that is still allowed.

Given the pandemic and its interrelated crises, there is so much bad news out there that a new term has been coined: “doomscrolling.” Doomscrolling is when we move from one news feed to the next on the various formats on our devices that proclaim doom and gloom.

Our current realities, not just that there is a global health crisis, but that leaders in various settings are making choices to make matters worse, bring to mind words of one of the stanzas of Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” The first line of stanza three goes like this in translation: “Though hordes of devils fill the land all threatening to devour us….”

The challenge and opportunity for me, for us, in this season of doomscrolling seemingly relentless bad news is to trust in the hidden power of God working in, with, under, and often in spite of our circumstances.

Here again, I invoke the encouraging words of Paul in today’s second reading: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26ff.)

 bokey wrote:
 
John 11:35 - Jesus wept.

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

C. S. Lewis

"Desire links non-being to being."

“Who knows for certain?
Who shall here declare it?
Whence was it born, whence came creation?
The gods are later than
this world's formation;
Who then can know the origins of the world?
None knows whence creation arose;
And whether he has or has not made it;
He who surveys it from the lofty skies.
Only he knows-
or perhaps he knows not.”

The Rig Veda.

“Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar.”

C. S. Lewis