In the midst of snowfall, I pondered truth this morning and why I desire it. And why we should desire truth.
I would like to characterize my hunger for the truth – as a pleasure I enjoy in discovering reality as it can be apprehended or received by rational and other means. I find myself most enthusiastic about truth when I act in wisdom – when I apply my knowledge usefully and successfully for my or others benefit.
Sometimes, those benefits can be as ridiculous as vanity – my own petty self satisfaction that I know better than another. I regret and struggle to renounce this sin of pride as much as possible.
But my greater pleasure, I believe, derives from an uplifting experience when I discover that reality is more beautiful and larger than I (or others) had previously understood.
For example, that our dignity as human persons exceeds the apparently arbitrary values we find assigned to a person within human culture. Specifically in the instance of a victim of human trafficking, slavery, abuse, exploitive labor, murder, or rape. Or in the existential experience of rejection – hate, discrimination, disability, disease, alienation, flight, immigration, diaspora, etc.
I rejoice to know that we are more than our failure, sorrows, pain and shame. And I anticipate with great hope and faith when we will arrive at that uncompromised and joyful experience of ourselves (and each another) as more.
This week. Like a overflowing cup, this week runs over with strong feelings and pounding hearts.
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Imogen Heap, Just For Now
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Sorrow and tears were shared. But also kindness and at least one smile. Or two. And prose – if it is not poetry – made certain demand upon me.
Please visit the awesome bloggers (Jayme Soulati and Kaarina Dillabough) who are kind and generous to allow me to guest post and share words of hope and happy.
I stretched out my hand to poetry
this early morning
and I felt the distance grow between words
and understanding.
Were those miles there before I had begun?
Like glass shattering, the shards scattering
across the kitchen floor; like a people
fleeing, retreating
from a more perfect union – but they say
Lincoln’s a poet and poetry mends
hearts, ways, hopes, families, neighborhoods and peoples.
That would be progress!
Or prosperous by any other name.
Technology, commerce, innovation –
cannot tow a star-faring ship of state
up a creek like a stubborn juggernaut.
Yes, star-faring ship –
that is what I wrote!
The seas are sailed
and the seas run red.
The shining cities
of Mars
are not soon enough
nor the Orion
starports blinking in their ochre glory.
At dock, hum the engines of Enterprise,
ready to carry our hopes even further.
Episodes and/or related writing are published on this blog – some Mondays or Wednesdays. Please subscribe to this blog to get a reminder when the next episode is published.
Subscriptions are free.
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Author’s Note:
I’m in the middle of the big move so it may be some weeks before I am free to write again.
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Justin Timberlake, Sexy Back
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The Book of Carrot
Book One: Principal Virtues
Chapter Two: Abandon all to hope
Episode Fourteen: What’s Love Got To Do With It? Part One
Audience: Adult
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I am waiting. I am ever waiting to bring the world to the perfection that is longed for in hope, joy, and possibility.
Do you feel the same as I do?
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Enigma, Return to Innocence
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I await for greater forces (men, women or otherwise) of greater prudence, courage, self-control, justice and faith. I await their direction, their demonstrations, and crowd-roaring triumphs over impossibilities, danger, and humiliation.
I am waiting to do amazing things – more amazing than I can begin to understand or imagine. Because within me are beautiful, true, and good things. They move with such precision, certainty, and counterpoint. Like the heavens. Like celestial perfection. Like a clockwork of stars and galaxies.
I am not alone
I am not alone in these anticipations and aspirations.
And you are not alone in yours.
There is untested strength, courage, and beauty in our common will. So much unrevealed awesome in our common destiny.
Wait for no one
We need begin for the hour is late. We have lost ourselves in useless distractions. We have uselessly agonized over our unfulfillment.
We do not need more things. You. Me. We need less emptiness in our hearts. We need less dishonesty. With ourselves. With others.
We need to sanctify ourselves in love. Because we are nothing – if we, ourselves, are not love. Because love is, has always been, and will always be – what we are. Wait for no one!
Do I deceive myself when I allow myself to feel my deep hunger for love? Do you?
Has not love been everything for me- when I allowed myself to feel truly the things that I feel? You?
And yet, nothing I could do would purchase it and my happiness. With one single exception- love.
Consequences
Do you feel the same?
Or, maybe, my words fail to sue for peace against the armed gates of your heart. Maybe, the walls of your heart are proud and tall like the walls of Troy.
I am of no consequence to you. I do not pretend to have wisdom for you. But who are you?
You, yourself, are of consequence to you. This is indisputable. And your emptiness longs to be filled with joy. With you. With love.
Just as my emptiness must be filled with love.
And, quite possibly, we shall find joy together. In love. With love. Through love. In the unity of our common will and destiny to be ourselves truly and completely.
Together, we can be the change that we want to see in our world.
If you can do one thing just for you today… allow yourself to feel everything as you watch this short, uplifting video:
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Stan Faryna
25 June, 2011
Valley of the Roses (Kazanlak), Bulgaria
Mr. Faryna is the founder and co-founder of several technology, design and communication companies in the United States and Europe including Faryna & Associates, Inc., Halo Interactive, and others.
Stan Faryna served as a Global Voices author and translator. Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society.
Mr. Faryna also served as editor-in-chief of Black and Right (Praeger Press, 1996), a landmark collection of socio-political essays by important American thinkers including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Copyright
Copyright 1996 to 2012 by Stan Faryna.
Here’s my fair use policy for my content: If you want to share my content with your own audience, you may quote a brief excerpt, if and only if, you provide proper attribution (Source: The unofficial blog of Stan Faryna) with a direct link to the source. Generally speaking, as long as you are not acting as an agent or on behalf of a corporation or institution, I am not interested in any payment for the quotation or use of a complete article. Nevertheless, you may not republish or translate the entire article without my written permission. Send your request for permission via Facebook. Or tweet me up me on Twitter.
Where is the Love, The Black Eyed Peas
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Sucking in Syria
Syrian protesters are dying. Everyday, it seems. Maybe, eight were killed yesterday. Four, the day before. More Syrians will die, tomorrow. Through links on Twitter, I’m getting to see some videos of the dead and dying. There’s blood. Tears. Crying. There’s the crack of AK47s.
The protesters are demanding Freedom. Change. Opportunity. Reform. They want to make a better world.
Syrians are not just dying. They are being murdered. The killing is intentional.
Protesters are being murdered by soldiers or police who have been ordered to do so by their government. They might not look like you or me. They may not even speak the same language. But, unless, you are hopelessly all wrapped up in you, you know that other people are losing the people that they love and care about. In an instant.
In a gruesome, grim, split-second instant, love seems to be cancelled.
Where are the leaders of Arab nations? Who is dressed in the armor of Islamic righteousness? Who stands against their Muslim brothers who do evil? I don’t see them anywhere, do you?
Below, a little background music: Eminem, The Real Slim Shady
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Muslim unity has a LOUD hollow ring to it and it’s being heard – and discussed – around the world. Many centuries ago, Westerners learned that shared religious views are no substitute for cooperation backing up a firm will and commitment to effect positive change. Even when the different prayers of peoples are formulated with the same words, intentions and aspirations, religion is separate from statesmanship. If the two-faced Pan-Arab commentary and confusion continue, American and European empathy for the Pan-Arab cry for freedom, democracy and justice may wane, even disappear. Read the rest of this entry »
The debate over the usefulness of Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube (and many other internet services) is being argued in regard to steering and consummating political and social change at ground zero. The sweeping change in hearts and minds across the Arab world have fueled these debates – especially the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, but also the events in Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen, and beyond.
No well informed opinion can deny that humanity’s struggle for freedom and dignity has received more attention now than ever before. The unfolding drama and embrace of change have never captured the imagination and hearts of so many of the world’s population as the recent unprecedented changes in the Arab world.
Never before have so many experienced true revolution directly by picture, video, text message and blog post. Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube (among other social media) made this possible. And let us not forget that it was the English language which was instrumental to the sharing of information, inspiration, insight, sympathy, anguish, hope, and, yes, outrage. Read the rest of this entry »
Times are changingby Bob Dylan ………………………………………………..
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The Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
My fellow citizens,
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
Below, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I have a Dream speech. ………………………………………………..
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Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell, celebrated Hoover Institute Scholar, author and black conservative, writes:
“Whatever one may think about Obama as a candidate or as a potential President, his candidacy has brought something new to the American political scene.”
Since Ronald Reagan, no presidential candidate has emphasized hope and change and generated so much enthusiasm as Senator Barack Obama. That’s not all we’ve come to see and know during this presidential campaign. After four decades of pretending to be the champion of minority interest, the Democrat’s racial preferences were exposed when Billary understood that the chances for another Clinton White House were getting slim. On the other side, quite a few white Republicans have been gleefully chanting, ‘Yes, we can.” Some on the right side are not quite as stupid and unpatriotically obedient as was presupposed.
Lee Walker
My friend and political mentor, Lee Walker of the New Coalition for Economic and Social Change, writes of Obama:
“Obama’s message is that it is not too late for America to change from some bad habits to better habits… Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy is powerful confirmation of the truth of Booker T. Washington’s vision of hard work and self-reliance as the route to success for blacks as for all Americans.
This is an historical presidential election. It is a unique opportunity. Do we make a great step forward? Or does America take a step down from the stage of history? These are interesting times. America is in need of a prophet- even one from Illinois. The time has come for us to join hands together as we honor our proud American heritage with the inauguration of America’s first black president. And were he alive today, Alexis de Tocqueville, the much studied European commentator on the American legacy, would strongly agree.
Barrack Obama
Now is the time. Let us be satisfied. Let Freedom ring through the halls and offices of the White House.
America and the world have great expectations of this moment. I hope and I pray that we Americans and Senator Barrack Obama… will not fail.
Now is the time.
Now has come the time for change. For hope. For justice to roll down.
Yes, we can.
Below, Jordin Sparks singing the National Anthem. ………………………………………………..
Mr. Faryna is the founder and co-founder of several technology, design and communication companies in the United States and Europe including Faryna & Associates, Inc., Halo Interactive, and others.
Stan Faryna is also a Global Voices author and translator. Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society.
Mr. Faryna also served as editor-in-chief of Black and Right (Praeger Press, 1996), a landmark collection of socio-political essays by important American thinkers including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Copyright
Copyright 1996 to 2008 by Stan Faryna.
Here’s my fair use policy for my content:
If you want to share my content with your own audience, you may quote a brief excerpt, if and only if, you provide proper attribution (Source: The unofficial blog of Stan Faryna) with a direct link to the source. Generally speaking, as long as you are not acting as an agent or on behalf of a corporation or institution, I am not interested in any payment for the quotation or use of a complete article. Nevertheless, you may not republish or translate the entire article without my written permission. Send your request for permission by inmail through Linkedin or contact me through Buzzfuse.
Election day will be exciting. Prayers will be answered. People will shout out, “Amen!”
The news talk show sock puppets will be talking about unprecedented voter turn outs- not to mention a record level turn outs of first time voters, black Americans, Hispanics and other minorities at the polls. They will talk about the American people’s hunger for hope and change. And they may even express a certain surprise to the unexpected tide of white votes for Senator Barack Obama.
Throughout the day and early evening, Journalists will be chatty and make wild eyed predictions as cautiously as possible in anticipation of the electoral votes. I plan to look for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It’s not difficult to imagine that Indecision 2008 could just be the most insightful coverage of the elections
More thoughtful commentators will be reminded of the past excitement of Ronald Reagan and others, JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. These are interesting times. Everyone, everywhere will overuse the idea of history in the making.
Yes, everywhere.
The excitement and anticipation will not only stir in the hearts and prayers of Americans, they will stir in hearts, minds and prayers across the planet. I would not be surprised if Kenyans celebrate the day. Senator Obama is a son of Kenya as much as he is a son of America.
The Death of the Neo-Conservative Movement… and spiritual bankruptcy of the left and right
Neo-conservativism as a movement is dead. It began with a passion for classical liberalism and left-sided problematics. It stirred with intellectual curiosity and an almost spiritual enthusiasm. However, the neo-conservative movement evolved into a souless snap step that merely served the greed and folly of undisciplined capitalists. On election day, some will bemoan the tragic end of something that could have become an engine of hope.
The values of the Democrats will not be vindicated if there is an Obama victory. Senator Obama will get a landslide of votes even if he were an Independent. Hopefully, he knows it too. Hopefully, Senator Obama will remember that he owes his rise not to the Party but to the American people and their willingness to suspend their ho-hum apathy and cynicism when they heard Obama’s message of hope.
When Senator Hillary Clinton threw the kitchen sink at Obama, it was clear that the Democratic power base has a racial preference. Democrts are as reluctant to embrace change as Zappata (aka corporate oil interests of the Bush family), the HRHs and Rockefellers. On the other hand, Democrats won’t ignore a rising tide that helps them grab seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Tabletalk
The McCain campaign has been a piss poor campaign. It will be worse in the last days. It will stink on election day. Senator John McCain had nothing new to say. It appears to too many Americans that he believes in nothing as well. In fact, the hard core of the Republican Party, like the hard core of the Democrat Party, has been spiritually and politically bankrupt for a long, long time. The old guard, left and right, has nothing useful to pass on to us. Just some parlor tricks and more of the same old.
Perhaps Senator McCain’s lackluster campaign represents the folly of Republican prejudice that Americans would not vote a black president into office. Somehow the Democrats made the same mistake earlier this year.
So we shall see tears of joy on election day. And some of us will join black America with our own unbid tears as black Americans tell their story of how they have long waited for this day. Some black Americans will know and feel for the first time in their lives that America is home and that opportunity is not suspect.
Race Matters, Economics, and the Cause of Freedom
In the wonder of Senator Obama’s triumph, some may also face up to the truth that opportunity is something wonderful but that opportunity is not a welfare check, a hand out, or a hand up. It is what it is. Opportunity and not Pie.
Equality in dignity is not necessarily correlated to personal accomplishment, professional achievement, success, happiness, wealth and/or property. On the other hand, the problematic of a welfare state does not mean that we should not be concerned with the welfare of the nation, of the people, and of the person. The unfortunate paradoxes that we find ourselves pondering simply reflect the small mindedness– left and right.
Most of our American problems are not quite as chronic or inescapable as the commentators, government pundits, and opinion makers say. On the other hand, some of the problems are worse than we could have ever imagined.
America shall re-awaken
We are Americans. We have set the milestones of freedom, democracy and hope. For all nations. For all peoples. Yes, we can do great things. Yes we have done greater things than others have yet to do. And so I believe that America shall shine bright a few more years. Who else shall step up and carry the torch for humankind and progress? The French? The Chinese?
Not.
Below, Amerika from Ramstein. ………………………………………………..
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Stan Faryna
October 27, 2008
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Mr. Faryna is the founder and co-founder of several technology, design and communication companies in the United States and Europe including Faryna & Associates, Inc., Halo Interactive, and others.
Stan Faryna is also a Global Voices author and translator. Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society.
Mr. Faryna also served as editor-in-chief of Black and Right (Praeger Press, 1996), a landmark collection of socio-political essays by important American thinkers including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Copyright
Copyright 1996 to 2008 by Stan Faryna.
Here’s my fair use policy for my content:
If you want to share my content with your own audience, you may quote a brief excerpt, if and only if, you provide proper attribution (Source: The unofficial blog of Stan Faryna) with a direct link to the source. Generally speaking, as long as you are not acting as an agent or on behalf of a corporation or institution, I am not interested in any payment for the quotation or use of a complete article. Nevertheless, you may not republish or translate the entire article without my written permission. Send your request for permission by inmail through Linkedin or contact me through Buzzfuse.
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Arab leadership: Will the real slim shady please stand up!
March 21, 2011Where are the Arab leaders?
Where are the leaders of Arab nations? Who is dressed in the armor of Islamic righteousness? Who stands against their Muslim brothers who do evil? I don’t see them anywhere, do you?
Below, a little background music: Eminem, The Real Slim Shady
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Muslim unity has a LOUD hollow ring to it and it’s being heard – and discussed – around the world. Many centuries ago, Westerners learned that shared religious views are no substitute for cooperation backing up a firm will and commitment to effect positive change. Even when the different prayers of peoples are formulated with the same words, intentions and aspirations, religion is separate from statesmanship. If the two-faced Pan-Arab commentary and confusion continue, American and European empathy for the Pan-Arab cry for freedom, democracy and justice may wane, even disappear. Read the rest of this entry »