Showing posts with label Darkness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darkness. Show all posts
August 14, 2023
April 8, 2021
Hollow Eyes
August 27, 2020
Rope Light
March 9, 2019
A Disgrace On The Democrats
They have become the new hate-mongering party!
Progressives no way.
Their bigotry, racism, and hatred are taking us backwards.
Their members' attack friends, allies, and patriots of this country.
And these bigots are worshipped and placed on the cover of Time Magazine.
To the 3,000 that were killed on 9/11, it is a disgrace.
To this great nation, it is bringing us down from being a light unto nations to ushering in darkness and prejudice.
Shame on Pelosi and Schumer and the other democrats who are allowing extremism and hate to dominate their agenda.
First they hated on Trump
(Ilahn Omar even hated on Obama!)
Then they hated on Israel and the Jews.
Who are they coming for next America?
(Source Graphic: Adapted from Time Magazine By Andy Blumenthal)
June 20, 2018
The Anxiety Filter
Notice the great big letters--and all in caps--for what ANXIETY feels like.
Anxiety is black--it's when we are in a dark foreboding place and we can't find our way out--it holds us back from doing what we need and like to do.
Anxiety feels so all-enveloping and ginormous--it dwarfs us in the "I"--and we feel so small and are paralyzed, incapable of freeing ourselves from it.
Anxiety is a cognitive and emotional bias where we see things in black and white--everything is to the extreme--and there are no greys; we tend to talk in all or nothing and our actions may mimic our extreme feelings.
Around the anxiety, we are bordering in blood red--we are in a dangerous place--where our feelings of fear, inadequacy, and being incapable of overcoming it can lead us to do something desperate and final.
When we are drowning in anxiety, it is like a lens or filter that clouds our vision and thinking, so we can make bad decisions, not make any decisions, or just procrastinate in order to avoid the issue and thing we are afraid of.
We have to fight off the octopus grip of anxiety.
We have to find our courage within and from G-d.
We have to conquer our demons so we can meet our destiny head-on.
We have a mission to fulfill in our life, and we can't let anything get in the way.
Fate is waiting for us to make our important contribution, so then we can be gathered to our fathers and rest in final peace. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
March 29, 2018
Light Drives Out Darkness
"Darkness can't drive out darkness.There is so much darkness in certain people.
Only Light can do that."
So full of hate, violence, and corruption.
They use and abuse others for their selfish aims.
Only faith and giving can drive out selfishness!
The other day at work, I briefly stopped over to help a colleague with something (I thought it was pretty minor, honestly).
The next thing I know, another colleague who observed me, leaves--literally--a gold star on my desk.
I had to laugh to myself--isn't this what we do with kids.
And then I thought to myself--Wow! People at any age can be recognized for just being decent human beings with one another.
Rather than just recognize the latest work accomplishments, isn't it truly something to recognize helping others.
Being good people is the essence of what life is all about.
I'm glad that there are still people in the world that know this. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 15, 2018
Suicide Back To Go
This is what they told me:
"When you try to commit suicide, there is no light; there is no Heaven; there is only darkness."
Basically, even though they were desperate and tried to kill themselves, their experience was not one of finding relief, but rather of going to Hell!
So while I really don't know anything, this is what I imagine happens when you try to commit suicide.
Yes, there is no light--there is only darkness.
Yes, there is no Heaven.
But I don't believe you go to Hell for being desperate, depressed, alone, and feeling like you have no other way out.
Instead, what I believe is that you "Go back to GO and you do not collect $200."
In other words, you have to start the Game of Life all over again.
Since you didn't complete your tests, trials, challenges, and mission...you go back to the beginning.
You have to relive your life and go through it all over again.
Who is to say, whether it is a better life or not.
Presumably, whatever lessons you were supposed to learn the first time around, you still have to complete those lessons.
So I would think you have to relive a lot of the same.
I don't know about you, but one of the things I hate worst when things go wrong is to have to go back and redo what I've already done.
It seems so fruitless, such a waste of time and effort.
How is that for frustrating--working just to redo what you already did.
Perhaps that is quite the measured "punishment" for those who end their life prematurely--before G-d says it's time.
While we frequently say things about wishing to be young again or do it all over again--I think rarely does someone mean having to go thru the same pain points again.
I assume it's nice to live again, but it's got to be a value-add life--not just a do-over!
So in my mind, while someone on the edge may not have a real choice in what they are doing and in making a decision to take their life--it's probably not a purely rational moment in time--I do think that in so taking their life, they are not doing themselves any favors in the end.
Because, suicide isn't game over, but rather the game begins all over--from the beginning again. ;-)
(Note: I am not talking about assisted suicide here for someone who is at the end of life and in absolute pain and suffering and it is truly time to go--I am sure that is perfectly okay).
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
August 3, 2017
DC Lights It Up - Just Physical or More
They are all sort of magnificent!
But even while I am marveling at them, my mind is tearing another way...
I am thinking, there is physical light, yet in so many ways the world seems dark.
We have lots technological progress to be proud of, and yet there are big problems all over the horizon.
- Nuclear and missile proliferation, and rising cyber threats.
- Rising global terrorism and potential for military conflicts
- Spiraling national debt and the trust funds for social entitlements running out
- Rising discrimination and associated hate crimes
- Family strains and the decline of marriage
- Challenges in confidence with organized religion
- World leadership at a crossroads.
We need light--but not just the physical type.
Transparency, enlightenment to solve big problems and a spiritual awakening to ensure good wins out over evil are all on order. ;-)
(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
March 24, 2017
Locked Inside Your Own Body
Of course, the criminal justice system centers around incarceration (and less so rehabilitation) and for most of history--from chains, cages, and dungeons--the most vile despots have placed people's bodies in desperate restraints.
But I have learned that people can be not only physically incarcerated and shackled, but they can also literally be imprisoned within their own bodies.
My own dear mother suffered terribly with Parkinson's Disease and I watched helplessly and in horror as the degenerative rigidity, contortion, and incredibly horrendous pain made her suffer so. No amount of pain medication could ease her unbelievable suffering...only death itself.
In another instance, a colleague's spouse got sick with ALS and as this horrible disease ran it's course, the person could not move, eat, speak, and eventually even breath on their own. Their mind worked fine, but it was imprisoned within a body that continuously closed in on itself and could no longer function.
In both these cases, the body itself was the prison of the mind and soul--no bars, no barbed wire, and no high walls necessary.
Another case, I read and watched about his week, was of a husband and father who suddenly became a quadriplegic. Kevin Breen was a healthy and active 44-year old, when suddenly he came down with a case of strep throat that traveled to his stomach and almost ended up killing him. He survived, but had to have his hands and feet amputated. Can you imagine the absolute horror of this?
There are so many good things that can happen in life, but also so many, G-d forbid, misfortunes--it is frightening to think about let alone confront.
Locked up or imprisoned within our own failing bodies, leave mankind looking out into the darkest and deepest of the abyss, and that is when we need G-d's ultimate mercy and to answer us more than ever. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 26, 2016
From Darkness Will Come Light
"Here on the first night of Hanukah, I stand next to the Maccabees of our times, IDF soldiers and wounded IDF heroes.
I salute you and say to you clearly: The light will dispel the darkness.
The spirit of the Maccabees will overcome.Israel is a tiny democratic nation, the size of New Jersey, surrounded by hostile nations and terror organizations, but by continuing to shine a light on the desire for true peace and security for a people that were decimated by the Holocaust, we can dispel the darkness of thousands of years of hate and discrimination.
Happy Hanukah!"
I believe in my deepest heart of hearts that most people in the world, and especially in the shining light of nations of America and Israel, are good and decent.
And together, we can overcome the darkness of bigotry, intolerance, and hatred with the light of good and righteousness in this world.
Faith, caring, and love can overcome. ;-)
(Source Graphic Andy Blumethal)
January 29, 2016
Responding To Foolish Holocaust Denial
His logic and proofs include things like the following:
- If the Earth was really moving, and you tried to fly to China, the plane shouldn't have to move, since China would just come to the plane.
- Also, if the Earth was moving in the same direction as the plane, and you were flying to China, then you would never get there, because you'd just be chasing a moving China.
This is how people's inner darkness, ignorance, and evil can attempt to extinguish the light.
Similarly, this past week, the "leader" of Iran took the opportunity on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27)--of all days --to once again express his vile denial of the Holocaust.
Khamenei declaring: "It's not clear if the Holocaust is a reality or not."
And calling for the "dear people of Iran" to "stand up to the ignorance" of the West.
Wow, who is calling whom ignorant and trying to brainwash the good people of Iran.
It's funny, but there are so many nice people from Iran that I've had the opportunity to meet and befriend, and one of them is an elderly man who is a swimming buddy of mine-- and he is such a nice person--I really enjoy talking with him (despite some of our differences of opinion).
The point is that when the leadership is corrupt, evil, and insecure, then they try to extinguish the good in the masses of the people, so that the people stay in the dark, blinded by scare tactics, scapegoats, and hatred--this is how they stay in power.
When it comes to Holocaust denial though, I think this is definitely going way too far, and I imagine the souls of the Six Million righteous who perished in the Holocaust--under the worst genocide the world has ever known--that they are watching and they are listening.
And Khamenei and his cohorts of evil doers will most certainly have to contend with all these very real martyred righteous souls.
So in their warped ignorance, foolishness, and hatred--where the sun rotates around the earth and with utter darkness they attempt to extinguish the light of the good people--I imagine with the strongest and most vivid of images and sounds that certainly Heaven does not await them...but a very fiery Hell of their own making indeed.
(Source Photo: here with attribution to slgckgc)
October 5, 2014
Got To Be A Caveman
We had seen a sign a number of weeks ago from the highway for Crystal Grottoes Caverns.
Today, we decided to try it out, and made the trip to Boonsboro!
I wasn't expecting much, since I had heard a lot about Luray Caverns in Virginia, but never anything about this one in Maryland.
Well we were really pleasantly surprised.
Half an hour tour underground through a literal maze of caves filled with the densest formation of stalactites (hanging from the ceiling) and stalagmites (springing from the floor).
These things grow only like a centimeter every 150 years, so when we saw literally countless that were meters long, we were really looking at thousands of years history.
Incredibly, these beautiful mineral rock formations come into being from water seeping through the limestone a drop at a time, and we saw rocks sparkling with crystals, and in shapes ranging from hands to turtles and much more.
The guide even showed us a special place (almost like a chamber) where a number of couples had gotten married down there...sort of an appropriate place to tie the knot ever so tight in those caves.
It was also nice that we had our own tour guide for this thing, and that made this all the more interesting to ask questions and really get to see everything.
At one point, the guide suddenly shut the electricity in the caves, and we were left in complete and utter darkness...it was so surreal and sort of scary, but peaceful to be in a complete void.
The guide explained that if you were down in the blackness for 6 or 7 months, you would actually go blind from not using your eyes whatsoever.
Overall, it's sort of a oxymoron, but we just felt so alive down there...breathing this super pure and clean oxygen (no real carbon dioxide down there, because basically nothing grows there) and the cave is this marvelous perfect 54 degrees all year round.
The owner is third generation and you can tell that he truly loves owning this precious jewel of a cavern, and he meticulously cares for it and continues to expand and improve the spectacle.
However, from a business perspective, I definitely don't think he has took advantage or capitalized on this priceless property.
There were basically no concessions (except that you could buy some samples of the rock from a single display case under the front counter), and there was no cross-selling of t-shirts, pins, posters, hay rides, animal petting, hiking, boating, or food stands!
We took some (as in like 20) brochures from the owner on the way out to give out at Rebecca's school (especially, since she is taking Environmental Science this year), but this guy otherwise doesn't seem to even advertise.
This place was a hidden underground gem...50 feet down underground, but no Starbucks. ;-)
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