Epictetus, The Enchiridion sections 9 , 10 & 28

Epictetus, The Enchiridion

Nine
Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

Ten
Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself.


Twenty Eight
If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?





These are Still Yet, Taking Me a Long Time to Turn from Platitude to Principle!

Bill

Better ,Late than Never? but Still "Just Do It!"

Better late than never.
Titus Livius, History
Roman author & historian (59 BC - 17 AD

"Just Do It"

'Nike'


Lao Tzu

There are 4 types of Rulers:

One whom the people Fear

Then ,One whom they Hate,

Then, One whom they Love,

Then ,the One,whom the people, are Unaware of,they ' Say" Rule themselves in Harmony

Lao Tzu

12 Steps to "Just Do It"

1) Never even consider to " Just Do It"

2) Consider the idea of " Just Do It" once in a while, but think it is 'BullShit'

3) "Do it" once in awhile, begrudgingly,half ass,Too Late,Still think it is 'BullShit

4) "Do It" regularly,never on time, still half ass, but Intend on improving,?Why?

5) "Do It" occasionally on time, and competently, with intentions to improve.

6) "Do It" generally on time and competently, with progress in competence.

7) "Do It" mostly on time,always competent,occasionally excellently done.

8) "Do It" always on time, often in an excellent fashion.

9) "Do It" Masterfully, Timely, almost Always. Often with Joy.

10) "Do It" Always, Masterfully, Timely,and with Joy

11) Others "Do It" from your Example ,steps 1 thru 10.

12) "done" Naturally, Quietly,Masterfully, with Inner Joy,others think they "Did It"

Life is Complicated, Absurd,but that is why it is Often Funny

So,Kudo's to Robin Wright Penn, & Sean Penn, for Considering Divorce but Opting Marriage,even if it is Tough. Below is Sean Penn's Wife's Bio, Robin Wright Penn of "Princess Bride" a Great Flick.

LIfe, We, are All, full of Flaws, but it works the way it's "Sposed to Be"

Look at Senator Ted Kennedy, What A Life, What a Man, What a Person!

If he were a Gourmet Meal or a Book, you could only Bear it Once, because it was SO,Rich,

Alive,yet Frought with Abdurditites, and Tragedies.,

Anyway here is Robin's Bio,she is still SO,young,relatively, and I wish her Balance.





Biography for
Robin Wright Penn

courtesy of

More at IMDbPro »

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Date of Birth
8 April 1966, Dallas, Texas, USA


Birth Name
Robin Virginia Gayle Wright


Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)


Mini Biography
Robin Virginia Wright was born in Dallas, Texas, but grew up in San Diego, California. She started her professional career as a model, both in Paris and Japan. After finishing the high-school she decided to become an actress. She got a role in the daytime series "Santa Barbara" (1984), for which she was nominated three times for an Emmy. Meanwhile, Wright starred in blockbuster hit The Princess Bride (1987), in the title role. Thanks to the success, she got the starring role in Denial (1990) (aka "Loon"), alongside Jason Patric, whom she fell in love with. In 1990, she was in State of Grace (1990), where she met actor Sean Penn, by whom she had a daughter, Dylan Frances, and a son, Hopper Jack. In 1991, she was offered the role of Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), with Kevin Costner. But, on becoming pregnant she backed out. Robin was back to Hollywood with one the best roles of her career: She played Tara in The Playboys (1992). She was extremely stunning and brilliant. Then, she acted in Toys (1992) with Robin Williams, and she gave a funny performance. In 1994, Wright was in top grossing Forrest Gump (1994), with Tom Hanks and Sally Field. For her performance as Jenny, she got a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. She got a small role in The Crossing Guard (1995), alongside Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston. After turning down 14 projects, she played the title role of MGM/UA upcoming Moll Flanders (1996), directed by Pen Densham. Her co-stars are Morgan Freeman and Stockard Channing. She just started to star in Erin Dignam's Loved (1997), with William Hurt. Beautiful and talented, she has been compared to Jessica Lange.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous


Spouse
Sean Penn (27 April 1996 - present) (filed for divorce) 2 children
Dane Witherspoon (1986 - 1988) (divorced)


Trivia
She started working at 14 as a model both in Paris and Japan.

Backed out of the role of Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), with Kevin Costner, upon discovering that she was pregnant with her first child (daughter Dylan Penn).

She turned down Batman Forever (1995) and Sabrina (1995).

She owns two oil wells in Texas.

When Robin was 15, she dated actor Charlie Sheen.

In The Princess Bride (1987), she is credited as 'and introducing' (Robin Wright), although that was not her first film.

Two children with Sean Penn: a girl Dylan Frances, born on 13 April 1991, and a boy Hopper Jack, born on 6 August 1993.

Daughter-in-law of Eileen Ryan and Leo Penn.

Sister-in-law of Chris Penn, Michael Penn and Aimee Mann.

Measurements: 33-24-34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

She was robbed of her vehicle at gunpoint in Santa Monica, California, in the 1990s. Shortly after the incident, she and Sean Penn moved out of Los Angeles.

Had to back out of the role of Abby McDeere in The Firm (1993), with Tom Cruise, upon discovering that she was pregnant with her second child (son Hopper Penn). The role eventually went to Jeanne Tripplehorn.

She is mentioned in the lyrics in the hit song "Palace & Main" by Sweden's biggest rock band, Kent. "Jag skjuter allting framför mig som Robin Wright Penn gör i State of Grace," which translates to "I shoot everything in front of me like Robin Wright Penn does in State of Grace (1990).".

Won the title role in The Princess Bride (1987), while still under contract to the soap "Santa Barbara" (1984). In order to get sprung from her soap role temporarily, Wright reluctantly agreed to add nine months to her soap contract.

Was in attendance at Chris Penn's funeral.

Her son is named after two family friends, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.

Has lived with Sean Penn since 1991.

National campaign spokesperson for Myasthenia Gravis.

Born to Freddie Gayle Wright, a pharmaceutical executive, and his wife Gayle Gaston, an Independent Executive National Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetics.

She and her husband, actor Sean Penn, withdrew their divorce petition in April 2008.

Honorary chairperson and national spokesperson for The Gordie Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing today's young people with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, binge drinking, peer pressure, and hazing.

Told More magazine that, although she and Sean Penn withdrew their divorce papers, they are no longer together. [August 2009]

Once again filed for divorce from Sean Penn after she already did so in December 2007. But the couple reconciled in April 2008 until Sean filed for "legal separation" in April 2009, but he withdrew his bid a month later. [August 2009]



Personal Quotes
"Famous is celebrityism and I don't want that. I know that I'm not that. Everybody knows who you are, I can't imagine living that life."

On working on the soap "Santa Barbara" (1984). "I don't want to knock it. It's been great. This has been my acting class - and paid training ain't bad."

"Choosing these kinds of intense roles is becoming sort of a bad habit. Playing the average manic-depressive woman who's hitting 40 - yep, that'd be me. Bring it on! But I think what it is, really, is that [Hollywood] sees you do certain roles and says, 'Okay, that's her, let's cast her again and again as the same thing.' Then you wind up saying, 'I'd like to do something else,' and they whine, 'But why?'"

"These heavy movies, you carry them with you. Some days, when it would be great to chill and be a mom and just crash, I'm so wired, I can't turn it off. I would love to do a comedy again, it would be so much fun. Do people know that? Let's tell 'em!"



Salary
Unbreakable (2000) $2,500,000

Success is ?

Success is



the ability to go from one failure to another



with no loss of enthusiasm.




*Sir Winston Churchill



Success is



Owning your own Time.



*my Wife





Success is



the Process of a lesson learned,



a Life Lived ,without Regrets



Bill Swann D.O.





Success is ( you Fill in the Blank)

The Enchiridion

I was introduced to Epictetus and the Enchiridion when I was a young man, attending Loyoloa University of Chicago, and was Changed. The Ideas, Precepts, can be Life Changeing, yet are very difficult to move from Platitude to Personal Principle.

The 1st, below, is one of the most difficult. I modify it, in that , not only are difficult circumstances, a matter of one's perception only, in that they do not really affect some else who is not "attached" to thr situation,but Also, apparently Good situations,too, can be only a perception,possibly ,even an Illusion.

An old friend of mine, has an artifact, a Knife, It is a Buddist Knife, whose intent is to cut thru Illusion.Perhaps as a Tai Chi Sword Player of over 26 years, that is the Real Purpose of Sword Play,to cut thru our Illusions.I am still working on it.




The Enchiridion Idea #1 of 52
By Epictetus


Translated by Elizabeth Carter

1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control
are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are
our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation,
command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered;
but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging
to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are
slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is
your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be
disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if
you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs
to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or
restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no
one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you,
you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.

Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not
allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards
the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some
things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both
have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will
not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you
will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom
are achieved.

Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, "You
are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to
be." And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first,
and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in
our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything
not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

Eulogies, of Sorts

Eulogies, Should we here them while Alive or I gues it'd be interesting,when Dead?

Here are three.

My father's was short, I was grieving,stupid,maybe angry,was it unfair,or concise?

Bill Swann Sr.

1925 to 1987

He Loved, He Laughed, He Suffered.

Bill Swann Jr.
There are better in existence, even a Web Site or Two.

My Eulogy, I hope it is given by a Stand Up Comic, LIke a Roast,

and everyone Pisses their pants or panties ,when they here it.

BUt Seriopusly?, Here two ,one a classic, one a consideration:



From and DO it Check Out!

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/882.html

Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

Elegy ( EULOGY)Written in a Country Churchyard


The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.


Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;


Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.


Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.


The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,
The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.


For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.


Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!


Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.


The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.


Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
40 The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.


Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
4 Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?


Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.


But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;
chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.


Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.


Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.


Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes,


Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib'd alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,


The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.


Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.


Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.


Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.


For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.


For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,


Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.


"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.


"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.


"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;


"The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

THE EPITAPH

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.


Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,
He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.


No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose)
The bosom of his Father and his God.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

But one my Favorites, and it too could be a or is it an Eulogy

by one of my favorite Poets Walt Whitman

I Sing the Body Electric.

Being a Physician, A Tai Chiist,A Yoga Practioner, and on occassion a Drinker.

I bond wihtthis verse and Philosophy, and "SO It Goese"

I Sing the Body Electric
by Walt Whitman


1

I sing the body electric,
The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul? And if the body
were not the soul, what is the soul?
2

The love of the body of man or woman balks account, the body itself
balks account,
That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.

The expression of the face balks account,
But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face,
It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of
his hips and wrists,
It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist
and knees, dress does not hide him,
The strong sweet quality he has strikes through the cotton and broadcloth,
To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more,
You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.

The sprawl and fulness of babes, the bosoms and heads of women, the
folds of their dress, their style as we pass in the street, the
contour of their shape downwards,
The swimmer naked in the swimming-bath, seen as he swims through
the transparent green-shine, or lies with his face up and rolls
silently to and from the heave of the water,
The bending forward and backward of rowers in row-boats, the
horse-man in his saddle,
Girls, mothers, house-keepers, in all their performances,
The group of laborers seated at noon-time with their open
dinner-kettles, and their wives waiting,
The female soothing a child, the farmer's daughter in the garden or
cow-yard,
The young fellow hosing corn, the sleigh-driver driving his six
horses through the crowd,
The wrestle of wrestlers, two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty,
good-natured, native-born, out on the vacant lot at sundown
after work,
The coats and caps thrown down, the embrace of love and resistance,
The upper-hold and under-hold, the hair rumpled over and blinding the eyes;
The march of firemen in their own costumes, the play of masculine
muscle through clean-setting trowsers and waist-straps,
The slow return from the fire, the pause when the bell strikes
suddenly again, and the listening on the alert,
The natural, perfect, varied attitudes, the bent head, the curv'd
neck and the counting;
Such-like I love--I loosen myself, pass freely, am at the mother's
breast with the little child,
Swim with the swimmers, wrestle with wrestlers, march in line with
the firemen, and pause, listen, count.
3

I knew a man, a common farmer, the father of five sons,
And in them the fathers of sons, and in them the fathers of sons.

This man was a wonderful vigor, calmness, beauty of person,
The shape of his head, the pale yellow and white of his hair and
beard, the immeasurable meaning of his black eyes, the richness
and breadth of his manners,
These I used to go and visit him to see, he was wise also,
He was six feet tall, he was over eighty years old, his sons were
massive, clean, bearded, tan-faced, handsome,
They and his daughters loved him, all who saw him loved him,
They did not love him by allowance, they loved him with personal
love,
He drank water only, the blood show'd like scarlet through the
clear-brown skin of his face,
He was a frequent gunner and fisher, he sail'd his boat himself, he
had a fine one presented to him by a ship-joiner, he had
fowling-pieces presented to him by men that loved him,
When he went with his five sons and many grand-sons to hunt or fish,
you would pick him out as the most beautiful and vigorous of
the gang,
You would wish long and long to be with him, you would wish to sit
by him in the boat that you and he might touch each other.
4

I have perceiv'd that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round
his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
I do not ask any more delight, I
swim in it as in a sea.
There is something in staying close to men and women and looking on them,
and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well,
All things please the soul, but these please the soul well.
5

This is the female form,
A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,
It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor,
all falls aside but myself and it,
Books, art, religion, time, the visible and solid earth, and what
was expected of heaven or fear'd of hell, are now consumed,
Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it, the response
likewise ungovernable,
Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands all
diffused, mine too diffused,
Ebb stung by the flow and flow stung by the ebb, love-flesh swelling
and deliciously aching,
Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of
love, white-blow and delirious nice,
Bridegroom night of love working surely and softly into the
prostrate dawn,
Undulating into the willing and yielding day,
Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweet-flesh'd day.

This the nucleus--after the child is born of woman, man is born
of woman,
This the bath of birth, this the merge of small and large, and the
outlet again.

Be not ashamed women, your privilege encloses the rest, and is the
exit of the rest,
You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul.

The female contains all qualities and tempers them,
She is in her place and moves with perfect balance,
She is all things duly veil'd, she is both passive and active,
She is to conceive daughters as well as sons, and sons as well as
daughters.

As I see my soul reflected in Nature,
As I see through a mist, One with inexpressible completeness,
sanity, beauty,
See the bent head and arms folded over the breast, the Female I see.
6

The male is not less the soul nor more, he too is in his place,
He too is all qualities, he is action and power,
The flush of the known universe is in him,
Scorn becomes him well, and appetite and defiance become him well,
The wildest largest passions, bliss that is utmost, sorrow that is
utmost become him well, pride is for him,
The full-spread pride of man is calming and excellent to the soul,
Knowledge becomes him, he likes it always, he brings every thing to
the test of himself,
Whatever the survey, whatever the sea and the sail he strikes
soundings at last only here,
(Where else does he strike soundings except here?)

The man's body is sacred and the woman's body is sacred,
No matter who it is, it is sacred--is it the meanest one in the
laborers' gang?
Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just landed on the wharf?
Each belongs here or anywhere just as much as the well-off, just as
much as you,
Each has his or her place in the procession.

(All is a procession,
The universe is a procession with measured and perfect motion.)

Do you know so much yourself that you call the meanest ignorant?
Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight, and he or she has
no right to a sight?
Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffuse float, and
the soil is on the surface, and water runs and vegetation sprouts,
For you only, and not for him and her?
7

A man's body at auction,
(For before the war I often go to the slave-mart and watch the sale,)
I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not half know his business.

Gentlemen look on this wonder,
Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for it,
For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one animal or plant,
For it the revolving cycles truly and steadily roll'd.

In this head the all-baffling brain,
In it and below it the makings of heroes.

Examine these limbs, red, black, or white, they are cunning in tendon and nerve,
They shall be stript that you may see them.
Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,
Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant backbone and neck, flesh not flabby, good-sized
arms and legs,
And wonders within there yet.

Within there runs blood,
The same old blood! the same red-running blood!
There swells and jets a heart, there all passions, desires, reachings,
aspirations,
(Do you think they are not there because they are not express'd in
parlors and lecture-rooms?)

This is not only one man, this the father of those who shall be fathers
in their turns,
In him the start of populous states and rich republics,
Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoyments.

How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his offspring
through the centuries?
(Who might you find you have come from yourself, if you could trace
back through the centuries?)
8

A woman's body at auction,
She too is not only herself, she is the teeming mother of mothers,
She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.

Have you ever loved the body of a woman?
Have you ever loved the body of a man?
Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations and
times all over the earth?

If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred,
And the glory and sweet of a man is the token of manhood untainted,
And in man or woman a clean, strong, firm-fibred body, is more beautiful
than the most beautiful face.
Have you seen the fool that corrupted his own live body? or the fool
that corrupted her own live body?
For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.
9

O my body! I dare not desert the likes of you in other men and women,
nor the likes of the parts of you,
I believe the likes of you are to stand or fall with the likes of the
soul, (and that they are the soul,)
I believe the likes of you shall stand or fall with my poems, and
that they are my poems,
Man's, woman's, child, youth's, wife's, husband's, mother's,
father's, young man's, young woman's poems,
Head, neck, hair, ears, drop and tympan of the ears,
Eyes, eye-fringes, iris of the eye, eyebrows, and the waking or
sleeping of the lids,
Mouth, tongue, lips, teeth, roof of the mouth, jaws, and the
jaw-hinges,
Nose, nostrils of the nose, and the partition,
Cheeks, temples, forehead, chin, throat, back of the neck, neck-slue,
Strong shoulders, manly beard, scapula, hind-shoulders, and the
ample side-round of the chest,
Upper-arm, armpit, elbow-socket, lower-arm, arm-sinews, arm-bones,
Wrist and wrist-joints, hand, palm, knuckles, thumb, forefinger,
finger-joints, finger-nails,
Broad breast-front, curling hair of the breast, breast-bone, breast-side,
Ribs, belly, backbone, joints of the backbone,
Hips, hip-sockets, hip-strength, inward and outward round, man-balls, man-root,
Strong set of thighs, well carrying the trunk above,
Leg-fibres, knee, knee-pan, upper-leg, under-leg,
Ankles, instep, foot-ball, toes, toe-joints, the heel;
All attitudes, all the shapeliness, all the belongings of my or your body
or of any one's body, male or female,
The lung-sponges, the stomach-sac, the bowels sweet and clean,
The brain in its folds inside the skull-frame,
Sympathies, heart-valves, palate-valves, sexuality, maternity,
Womanhood, and all that is a woman, and the man that comes from woman,
The womb, the teats, nipples, breast-milk, tears, laughter, weeping,
love-looks, love-perturbations and risings,
The voice, articulation, language, whispering, shouting aloud,
Food, drink, pulse, digestion, sweat, sleep, walking, swimming,
Poise on the hips, leaping, reclining, embracing, arm-curving and
tightening,
The continual changes of the flex of the mouth, and around the eyes,
The skin, the sunburnt shade, freckles, hair,
The curious sympathy one feels when feeling with the hand the naked
meat of the body,
The circling rivers the breath, and breathing it in and out,
The beauty of the waist, and thence of the hips, and thence downward
toward the knees,
The thin red jellies within you or within me, the bones and the
marrow in the bones,
The exquisite realization of health;
O I say these are not the parts and poems of the body only, but of
the soul,
O I say now these are the soul!

The Art of Loss by Elizabeth Bishop

One Art


by Elizabeth Bishop


The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Quicksand Years

Quicksand Years



QUICKSAND years that whirl me I know not whither,
Your schemes, politics, fail--lines give way--substances mock and
elude me;
Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess'd Soul, eludes
not;
One's-self must never give way--that is the final substance--that out
of all is sure;
Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life--what at last finally
remains?
When shows break up, what but One's-Self is sure?

Walt Whitman

Yeah, Time can seem to go by fast,leaving us wonder,where it went?

Unless you've Altzheimers,(and then you most likely didn't ask the question/no insult intended)
YOU did keep the Memories, and the Great Illusionist ,Time,
had no joke to play on you.

Keeping conscious of ourselves, and to a degree what we are not, is essential.
Neti,Neti,Neti, is the a mantra Kriyananda often admonishes to his students.
Doing this ,teh dissociation that can occur under increased stress, is less, and we are "Re Oriented" to ourselves. Well,at least that's my story for now, and I am sticking to it.

Bill

And So it Goes

Lu Mountain

I climbed west on Incense Cloud Peak.
South I saw the spray-filled falls
Dropping for ten thousand feet
Sounding in a hundred gorges,
Suddenly as if lightning shone,
Strange as if light-wet rainbows lifted.
I thought the Milky Way had shattered,
Scattering stars through the clouds, downwards.

Looking up an even greater force.
Nature’s powers are so intense.
The Cosmic Wind blows there without stop.
The river’s moon echoes back the light
Into vortices where waters rush.
On both sides the clear walls were washed,
By streams of pearl broken into mist,
By clouds of foam whitening over rock.

Let me reach those Sublime Hills
Where peace comes to the quiet heart.
No more need to find the magic cup.
I’ll wash the dust, there, from my face,
And live in those regions that I love,
Separated from the Human World.


A Taoist Poem


Well, this is why I consider myself a Christian Taoist, in having an intention of being separate but within this world, grateful for being painfully human.

per Billy Pilgrim of Slaughter House Five,

"And SO It Goes" Yes ,

It All Goes,the Way it's Sposed to Be.

Rose Swann's Birhtday 21 Aug 1926 & St Patrick's Prayer & Love (parital)Corinthians 13;4-7

So ,

Tomorrow, 21 August, my Mom, Rose Marion Swann, would've turned 83. She Smoked too much, "that was her untimely end". I know the reasons, but it really doesn't matter now. She always admonished us, to , "Move On". When my sister Betty had a huge intracerebral bleed from the effects of a bone marrow transplant for breast cancer, I ,the Big Shot Doctor, couldn't make the decision to pull the plug. I called my Mom, she said,"Billy" Let Her Go, We Have to Move On, & So,Does She".
Wisdom,Courage,the ability to rebound from a Nervous Breakdown, 3 ,in fact, and die, mouthing to me, "I Love You".
Rose M. Swann was a Woman Filled with Love, Loved by All her Kids, Lived and Died a Life with No Regrets.
.

St Patrick's Prayer

I bind myself today
God's power to guide me
Might to uphold me
Wisdom to teach me
Eye to watch over me
Ear to hear me
Word to give me speech
Hand to guide me
Way to lie before me
Shield to shelter me
Host to secure me
I bind myself today


1Corinthians's 13; 4-7

Love is patient
Love Is kind
Love Does not envy
Love Does not boast
Love Is not proud

Love is not rude
Love is not self-seeking
Love is not easily angered
Love Keeps no record of wrongs

Love does not delight in evil, but
Rejoices in the truth

Love always protects
Always trusts
Always hopes
Always perseveres

Coffee ,a Great Drug,Substance and Idea!

Carrots, Eggs & Coffee

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee... You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean , mother?'

Her mother explained that! each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff ? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.


May we all be COFFEE!!!!!!!

In Blackwater Woods

In Blackwater Woods

by Mary Oliver

Look,the Trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are givingoff the rich
fragranceof cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
Everything
I have ever learned

In my lifetime
Leads back to this:the fires
And the black river of loss
Whose other side

Is salvation
Whose meaning
None of us will ever know.
TO live in this world

You must be able
To do three things:
To love what is mortal;
To hold it

Against your bones knowing
Your own life depends on it;
And,when the time comes to let it go,
Let It Go!

How to Accomplish Anything ( Almost)

Well, according to " The Secret" we are All accountable to the "Law of Atraction" meaning "What we Think, We Project and /or Draw to Us" Her is a summary of an Anthony Robins Course "Personal Power" with a few extras added in,for a little bit of direction along this line of thinking.

How to Accomplish Anything ( Almost)

6 Basic Human Needs

1) Certainty

2) Diversity

3) Significance

4) Connectiveness

5) Growth

6) Contribution


Four Levels of Experience

1) I like it, it Is Good for me and Helps Others

2) I don’t like it, but it Is Good for me and helps others

3) I like it, but it is Not Good for me, and does not help others

4) I don’t like it, it is Not Good for me, and does not help others


7 methods to sabotage any process, DO the Reverse to Fix it

1) Have a negative attitude towards the process

2) Avoid an Abundant /Enthusiastic attitude/mentality

3) Don’t have a Strategy

4) Don’t follow that strategy thru

5) Rely entirely on experts

6) Fail to maintain a Vigil once successful

7) Allow crisis to turn into catastrophe, a lack of resilience

12 Methods to Solve any Problem

1 ) Manage your emotional state

2) Focus, 20 % on the problem, 80 % on the solution

3) Obtain and maintain momentum, write it down

4) Analyze the issue

5) Re assess, Redirect, your method/ solution

6) Recruit Role models to assist, people who’ve been there ,negotiated a similar problem successfully before

7) Reassess your relationship with this challenge

8) Find out what is good about this challenge

9) Find out what is not perfect yet, but could me

10) Find out what are you willing to do , to solve this challenge

11) Find out what you are no longer willing to do ,or continue doing to solve this challenge

12) Find out how you can deal with this challenge and enjoy, learn ,grow from the process

1st Blog Post & Gratitude Journal

Well, I'll keep the 1st posting simple and let he following poem reflect what I am.

" Life is Mostly Froth & Bubble.

Yet ,Two Things Stand Like Stone"

Kindness in Another's Trouble,

Courage, in Your Own"

anonyomous australian poet

I wish to add and start a Gratitude Journal, list 1 to 5 things I am Grateful for ,daily,for one year.:

1) Gratefull for my Life, it is Fair

2) Gratefull for my Children

3) Gratefull for all the Challenges that have Befallen me in this Life.

4) Gratefull for Being Made Aware of the Long Tide and Breath of Life

5) Gratefull for the Trees


Bill Swann D.O.