Reading time: About 6 minutes, 1200 words
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/52
October 01, 2023 — #52 →
Relationships →
I’m saying that it is necessary to share meaning. A society is a link of relationships among people and institutions, so that we can live together. But it only works if we have a culture—which implies that we share meaning; i.e., significance, purpose, and value. Otherwise it falls apart.
~ David Bohm
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Ken Burns →
It seems absurd to ask, but who was Benjamin Franklin, really? The American founder’s legacy is at once ubiquitous and somehow elusive. He was never president, nor a cabinet secretary—he’s not even name-checked in Hamilton. Surveying his various careers as a scientist, inventor, writer, publisher, and diplomat, one could be forgiven for not properly engaging with any of them. Call it the curse of the polymath.
~ Matthew Taub from, Ken Burns on His Obsession With Ben Franklin, and Admiration for Guy Fieri – Atlas Obscura
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The Curse of the Polymath sounds like a classic film. The sort with a 15–minute overture, and an actual intermission. I’ve not yet watched the whole film, but I’m definitely past the intermission.
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Towards the pebbled shore →
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
~ William Shakespeare
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do content.
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Organic →
But then I realized a larger, unsettling truth: Much of the food grown in this country isn’t the medicine it should—or used—to be. We’re collectively getting sicker, not healthier. And for others to have the same healing I was privileged to experience; we must start with the soil.
As a man named J.I. Rodale once said:
“Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People.”
~ Jeff Tkach from, Our Healing Begins in the Soil – Rodale Institute
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When you’re growing up, you don’t really notice where you are doing it. Your parents, (or legal guardian(s) or perhaps even the State,) chose where you were planted. Bereshith, you’re planted in a very tiny space, then gradually moved to progressively larger spaces with fewer physical boundaries. Until one day you realize there’s basically no one left telling you what to do nor where to do it. If you never really thought about it, and nothing forced you to move, you’re probably still close to that original very tiny space, and probably still close to the progressively larger spaces too.
Then one day—I really do hope—you start to wonder what’s happened before, in the wherever you are now. I’ve a litany of, “woa, that’s cool!” historical bits and pieces found in my surrounds. But that the idea of “organic”—all of it, the word, the principles, everything—originated with one guy, within walking distance of my home, that’s sort of amazing. Rodale, (the family members, and the eponymous companies,) have done a lot—some good, some bad—but I find it unsurprising they did it here, in the Lehigh Valley. There’s a lot this area has going for it.
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Set a value →
They take no notice of it because it has no substance and is not a visible entity, and therefore it is reckoned very cheap, or rather completely valueless. Annuities and bonuses men are very glad to receive, and hire their labor and effort and industry out to obtain them. But upon time no value is set; men use it as carelessly as if it came gratis.
~ Seneca
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Your quality of life →
When you’re trying to stay focused on the actions, thoughts will come up and attempt to occupy your attention again. Most thoughts are not useful in the moment; they’re just conditioned mental reflexes, and there are triggers all over the place. To keep your attention on what you’re doing, make a general policy of dumping a train of thought unless the thought determines the next action you take. Nineteen times out of twenty, it doesn’t, and you’re better off ditching it.
~ David Cain from, How to Improve Your Quality of Life by up to 90 Percent
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There’s a serious down-side to this once you’re good at it: The rest of the sheeple don’t think this way, so interacting with them requires a bit more effort.
But it’s also a chance to be a positive influence on the world, so there’s that. I suppose it’s a question of whom do I place first, myself or everyone else. Care to guess my answer? (Hint: In case of sudden loss of cabin pressure, whose oxygen mask are you advised to put on first?)
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Awesome People →
At the Weir
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Social time →
Post impromptu Harlem side street jam… #artofretreat2017
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Day 61/100 – mindful →
meditation and mindful movement practice with @earth_strider #artofretreat2017
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Japan →
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Tree Peony →
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