The Unclad Soul

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb." ~ Mary Oliver, Poet/Writer

“What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty.”   ―   Alain de Botton ,  British Philosopher/Author

Let’s face it; racism in this country is a reality and a hideous evil. There is a great line from John Merrick, the Elephant Man, in the movie by the same title. Physically distorted, emotionally tormented because of his glaring differences, he tries to justify the cruelty of others by saying to a physician, “People are frightened by what they don’t understand.” Fear drives racism. It is a vicious fuel for all kinds of heartlessness. The simple truth is, far too many white people are terrified of black people. Terrified. And at the heart of that irrational fear is a gaping lack of understanding. There are too many of us who don’t want to understand others different from us. We’ve been white in this country so long we think the whole world is white, or should be. And we tremble with alarm that we just might someday no longer live in our dominating white world. We might then have to actually live along side of people who are a different color than us, have different cultural tr...

“I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.”  ~ Carl G. Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist     

"There is a loveliness to life that does not fade. Even in the terrors of the night, there is a tendency toward grace that does not fail." ~ Robert Goolrick, Novelist

“Religion can be a bridge to the spiritual, but the spiritual lies beyond religion.”  ~ Rachel Naomi Remen, Physician/Author

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong.” ~ Muhammad Ali