Tag: philosophy
230820 One Two Many
Posted by Sue Jacintho On August 20, 2023
The Way of Things
Posted by Sue Jacintho On January 26, 2021
It’s the way of things. We come into the world, we live for a time, we depart. As for the appearance, I don’t know how much choice is involved. From the river of souls, did I choose this vessel to inhabit? And for the living, how do I know how it is done? Purpose. What is expected? How do I do it? What are the rules of the game? How is it meant to be played? Meaning. What’s it all about? Why do we play this game?
I don’t know how anyone prepares for loss. Even when it’s not a surprise, it still sears and shatters. So I keep reminding myself that it’s the way of things. Acceptance. I’m working on acceptance. I think about purpose. And meaning. The cosmic goo of existence. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. My mother and my other mother, dear birdies, both left us in January. Mom, a year ago, Meredith, now. I am so lucky to have so many mothers. Did I learn what they needed to teach me? Am I ready for life? Can I teach my children what they need to know?
I’m missing my mothers, these mothers who mothered so many. How many people are missing my mothers this day? So many of us! A veritable tribe. They’re not truly gone. They live on in me, in us, this broad and wide family they embraced for the time that they had breath.
My mothers taught me much. Not so much with words or directions, but in the ways they lived their own lives. Fierce. Proud. Protective. Stubborn. Steadfast. Unwavering. Compassionate. Tenacious. Defiant. Reliable. Resourceful. Cooperative. Helpful. Loving. Imaginative. Creative. Playful. Competitive. Sharp. Enduring. Inclusive. Nurturing. Strong. Mighty. Humble. Simple. Friendly.
I am so very rich for the life they shared with me.
Joy According to Sue
Posted by Sue Jacintho On July 20, 2014
(My thoughts on the meaning of Joy, written when my nephew Max was a baby.)
|
Joy is the light that shines in Max’s eyes when he gurgles and smiles as I tickle him, hold him by his ankles and turn him upside down then right side up again. Joy is boundless, timeless, without restriction; it’s like Buzz Lightyear, reaching to infinity and beyond. It’s like a sunbeam, breaking through the clouds. Joy is freedom. Joy is being outside on a spring day when the sky is blue and the trees are budding, their leaves dancing to a light breeze. I close my eyes, lift my face to the sky, feel the cool air against my skin, and fill my lungs as full as I can. My heart swells and I capture the experience of peace, freedom, love, beauty, and contentment, all in that deep breath. For a moment I glimpse the comprehension of the enormity of God’s creation. Joy is the thankfulness in my heart for the knowledge that my family is alive, safe, and well. Joy is the thankfulness in my heart that I have a family. Joy is the thankfulness in my heart for my family who have love in their lives. Joy is the thankfulness in my heart for my own personal restored hope. Joy is not something that someone can give me (or take from me). Joy is an expression, or product, of love. Without love, there can be no joy. With love, there may be no joy, because Joy is a choice. Joy is the light that shines in Max’s eyes because he is pure and innocent and loves without condition. My personal Joy on a scale of 1 to 10 is 3.14159, mostly because I tend to allow myself to be distracted by the cares of this world. To increase Joy, I should be less selfish and more like Max. One could categorize LifeExperiences as ThingsThatPlease and ThingsThatAnnoy, then apply an appropriate and meaningful weighting factor to each category. Let the WeightingFactor for ThingsThatPlease be 100, and for ThingsThatAnnoy it shall be 0.01. The MentalAttention given to a particular LifeExperience shall be the LifeExperience*WeightingFactor, thus for ThingsThatPlease, the MentalAttention should be 10,000 times as much as it would be for ThingsThatAnnoy. With one’s mental attention focused more on pleasing things, one might be more inclined toward thankfulness and happiness. With a mind thusly inclined, one might be more likely to choose Joy. |
| Written by S. C. Kim, 25 Apr 01 |
Life
Posted by Sue Jacintho On July 20, 2014
Life
| In solitude you ponder The history of the ages As it happened then As it happens now This living experience We all share Intersections What then Live Joyfully |
| Written by S. C. Kim, 8 Jul 94 |
