Crocus beau

Crocus beau
Originally uploaded by wabi6.

I've been thinking a lot lately about comfortable numbness, and living a dangerous sort of safety. I'd like to be a paradox, but if honest right now I'm more often a contradiciton. I want to be free...as Nicolas Berdyaev so eloquently puts it "it is God who demands that man should be free, and not man himself. Man himself loves servitude and easily comes to terms with it. Freedom is not a right of man but a duty of man before God." I want to live up fully and joyously to that responsibility.

Questions?

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Alright, continuing yesterdays train of thought/blog....Here's a couple from "The Book of Questions"

What was the last song you sang to yourself? Stevie Wonder's "I Love You More Today Than Yesterday"

What would you do if you weren't too inhibited or scared too? Try out for a Broadway musical. Now, those who know me are on the floor laughing at this because they know my complete (as in total. as in full. as in 100%) lack of skills in the singing and dancing arenas....but that's the whole point! To totally give myself over to fun and the loosing of inhibitions and doing something that I know "I can't"...to be willing to be a fool...

Do you feel ill at ease going to a movie, dinner or vacation by yourself? Hmmmm...I rent movies by myself all the time, and if there's some foreign arty flick I can't persuade any one else to go to, I'll go on my own and enjoy it. I wouldn't want to eat dinner in a restaurant on my own, though I often go to coffee houses for work or reading time alone. Vacations, I'm ok with going alone because you meet people along the way, but I prefer to go with someone-in part so you have someone to share the memories with later. However, my life's' biggest regret is not taking an amazing sailing trip I could have because my friend I was supposed to go with backed out....so never again will I turn down a travel opportunity because I'd have to do it on my own.

IF, if, if........

Celtic
Originally uploaded by wabi6.

I have a habit, a little peccadillo if you will, of reading and enjoying the "If" series of books. Basically these are conversation starter books that pose hypothetical questions. I find them fun (yeah yeah call me a nerd!)

Here are a few:
If you were to define what true personal freedom is, what would you say? Well the cliche is, of course, "nothing left to loose" and to a degree I say yes....but maybe not in the way that the Bard Mitchell meant it....for me true personal freedom would come when I loose my attachments to my material goods, when I truly possess them but am not possessed by them. Being able to walk away without regret from all the little "things" that I use to define my existence...to just be...that is freedom.

If you were to complete the phrase "I love my life when....," how would you finish it? hmmm well there are a myriad of ways I can think of to finish this statement...I'll just list two. 1) I love my life when I notice what beautiful music the song of the "ordinary" truly makes. A rather clumsy poetical attempt to note that this universe is alive and God-drenched in wonders we all too often blithely pass on by...to open my eyes and see those wonders and small everyday miracles is to be joyful. 2) I love my life when I live it rather than avoid it. Simplistic? Yes. Simple for me to do? Definitely not.

If you were to name what you have the most compassion for, what would it be?
Those who are rejected and ignored in their misery. Driving down East Vancouver can break your heart.

Finally end on a fun note. If you could have the characters of any painting come to life, which painting would you choose? Well sure there are the great answers like Rembrant's prodigal Son, or the romantic knights and women of J.W. Waterhouse....but in reality it would probably besomething cheesy like this because, really, who wouldn't want a flying horse?

Oh Canada!

Now if only I liked cold weather as much as warm tropical....this is what I would have come up as.....Go Canada!

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do.  In fact, they're probably just jealous.
 You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others.  If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.
Take
the Country Quiz at the href="http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid

Spanish eyes

You're Spain!

You like rain on the plain, as well as interesting architecture and
a diverse number of races and religions.  You like to explore a lot, but sailing,
especially in large groups, never really seems to work out for you.  Beware of pirates
and dictators bearing bombs.  And for heavens' sake, stop running around bulls!
 It's just not safe!
Take
the Country Quiz at the href="http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid

And many of my friends thought I'd be Russia.....ha!