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October 28, 2009
yesterday
My friend says I was not a good son
you understand
I say yes I understand
he says I did not go
to see my parents very often you know
and I say yes I know
even when I was living in the same city he says
maybe I would go there once
a month or maybe even less
I say oh yes
he says the last time I went to see my father
I say the last time I saw my father
he says the last time I saw my father
he was asking me about my life
how I was making out and he
went into the next room
to get something to give me
oh I say
feeling again the cold
of my father's hand the last time
he says and my father turned
in the doorway and saw me
look at my wristwatch and he
said you know I would like you to stay
and talk with me
oh yes I say
but if you are busy he said
I don't want you to feel that you
have to
just because I'm here
I say nothing
he says my father
said maybe
you have important work you are doing
or maybe you should be seeing
somebody I don't want to keep you
I look out the window
my friend is older than I am
he says and I told my father it was so
and I got up and left him then
you know
though there was nowhere I had to go
and nothing I had to do
W.S. Merwin
Posted by amin at 10:32 AM
October 26, 2009
success and greatness
Like Socrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never confused success with greatness, he never confused financial prosperity with moral magnanimity, he never confused economic security with personal integrity, he never confused professional consciousness with deep moral commitment. what an example!
Cornel West
Posted by amin at 11:05 AM
October 13, 2009
the arbitrator
There are some who regard the end considering how life will end for them, and some who regard the beginning how it was decreed for them in eternity. The later are higher because the end is contingent upon the beginning. Some take leave of past and future, and are sons of the moment, for they contemplate Him, happy with the result of the predestination of God - great and glorious - and what appears of it, and these are higher than the one preceding. Then there are some who take leave of present, past, future, whose hearts are absorbed in the Arbitrator, clinging to their vision of Him, and this is the highest level.
Ghazali - Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God
Posted by amin at 11:32 PM
October 11, 2009
religion’s highest concern
To join the different moments of humanity to one another and, from its succession, to divine the spirit in which the whole is directed, that is religion’s highest concern. History, in the most proper sense, is the highest object of religion. It begins and ends with religion – for in religion’s eyes prophecy is also history, and the two are not to be distinguished from one another – and at times all true history has first had a religious purpose and proceeded from religious ideas. In its realm, therefore, lies also the highest and most sublime intuitions of religion.
Schleiermacher - On Religion
Posted by amin at 9:00 AM
October 10, 2009
the human will
The human Will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless Soul,
Can hew a way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.
Be not impatient in delays
But wait as one who understands;
When spirit rises and commands
The gods are ready to obey.
James Allen - As A Man Thinketh
Posted by amin at 2:52 PM
October 8, 2009
the saint weeps
I weep over my imperfect pages, but if future generations read them, they will be more touched by my weeping than by any perfection I might have achieved, since perfection would have kept me from weeping and, therefore, from writing. Perfection never materializes. The saint weeps, and is human. God is silent. That is why we can love the saint but cannot love God.
Pessoa - The Book of Disquiet
Posted by amin at 7:55 PM