The Unclad Soul

There is a new television series on FOX that aired this week called “Touch.” It is about a broken man whose wife died in one of the towers on 911 and about their 11-year old son who is autistic. The boy has never spoken a word and lives in a world of numbers he writes incessantly in one notebook after another. He is brilliant and loving but lives isolated inside his mind. His father tries desperately to connect with him. The first episode reveals that the boy possesses remarkable gifts and through a series of related events is able to influence the destinies of others. In his own limited way he wants so much to include his father in his silent life and make him a partner in his gifts. His father’s love and determination pays off and allows him to understand these gifts and eventually find a way to communicate with him. I totally bought into the show and to the heroic attempts of this father to connect with his son. Our children are our greatest personal resources. They a...

What She Read...: Joy Jolt: Dancing Books (Wordless Wednesday) : Visual literacy thrives on Wordless Wednesday, a hop hosted by  http://www.create-with-joy.com/ .                                      W...

Here are some beautiful thoughts to keep us focused during these winter days: Winter Interlude

"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward people, go freely with uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." ~ Walt Whitman

"The enemy of the black is not the white. The enemy of capitalist is not communist, the enemy of homosexual is not heterosexual, the enemy of Jew is not Arab, the enemy of youth is not the old, the enemy of hip is not redneck, the enemy of Chicano is not gringo and the enemy of women is not men. We all have the same enemy. The enemy is the tyranny of the dull mind. The enemy is every expert who practices technocratic manipulation, the enemy is every proponent of standardization and the enemy is every victim who is so dull and lazy and weak as to allow himself to be manipulated and standardized." ~ Tom Robbins, Screenwriter/Novelist Think long and carefully about this quote. Because this is where were are in America today. There are very conservative politicians and religious leaders today doing everything in their power to get us to be blind followers, hapless sheep, plodding along a path of mediocrity and sameness they have set out before us. They want our unwavering...

“The triple contagions of nationalism, utopianism and religious absolutism effervesce together into an acid that corrodes the moral metal of a race, and it shamelessly and even proudly performs deeds that it would deem vile if they were done by any other." ~ Louis Bernieres, British Novelist A country could not be any guiltier of the “triple contagion” than our own great USA. Nationalism. We have always had a sort of exalted opinion of ourselves as Americans and for good reason. We have a lot to be proud of and thankful for. But when pride and gratitude morph into arrogance and domination, then we begin to lose the grandness of our identity. We have lost our way. Neighborliness, hard work, compassion, generosity, vision, creativity, genius— gifts and character traits that were once the substance and soul of our nation are disappearing. In their place we now display a cold indifference to all who are not like us. A nation once so brimming with transcendent forces like g...