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3/2/06
Stephen--
Your description of years in the north woods reminded me of Thoreau and the "American Transcendentalists." I was enjoying Emerson's Self Reliance essay, and came across an old favorite.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with this shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today. Ah, so you shall come to be misunderstood. Is it so bad to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus and Luther, and Copernicus and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
I wonder if Emerson read Lao Tsu? This paragraphs seems to have a Tao flavor.
Roger Sanborn
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My friend Carol Adrienne sent me your URL to visit. It is like a breath of fresh air!
Blessings on your work and your outreach to the world -- and thanks to you and your wife for this lovely web site.
Ruth Drayer
* * * * * * * * *
See my beautiful paintings
and purchase Quest Books' newly published
"NICHOLAS & HELENA ROERICH,
The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists & Peacemakers"
at www.nicholas-roerich.com <http://www.nicholas-roerich.com>
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Thanks for your good words about achieving 60. At 69, I relish those thoughts, and will try to focus on them. I seem to forget how lucky we are to be here in this place, and alive with pretty good health to boot, and managing moneywise. Like to have you out in the woods for tea oneday, as we live in a unkempt preserve sort of forest. Ciao Roger
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Stephen,
I enjoyed your site. A great deal of thought has gone into it. The colours
are amazing and the photos, inspiring.
I read your blog for Jan 26th. Frustration comes to mind. Too many lies, I
hear that.
But I wonder how James Frey must be feeling or what drove him to be so
untruthful. I just see him as a lost person separate from the kind of
mindfulness you speak of in your blog from jan 23rd. As I see James on the
news sitting with Oprah trying to explain his sense of truth, there is such
a lost soul look in his eyes. I wonder how he got there.
As a Counsellor (yes we spell it different in Canada) in training I am
thinking more about what James has to teach us as a people, even as a
generation.
Thank-you again for your sight,
Signed, appreciative neighbour.
P.O. Box 922
Sebastopol CA 95472
The Mindful Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path (DeVorss Publications, 2004). Available at booksellers and online.
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