Archive for Month: April 2014

Photo of New York City by Rick Bellingham

Inequality

The featured image of this post is a picture of the downtown area of NYC—home of Wall Street. It’s a beautiful sight with majestic buildings, but there is a story unfolding that is as ugly as the buildings are beautiful. In those spectacular buildings, and in others around the world, evil lurks. Here are some facts: The highest percentage of ultra high net worth people (greater than $30 million) lives in NYC. Unfortunately, almost 50%

Title: Based on Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Airocean World | Author: | Source: | License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Poem for the Planet

Same earth
Same water
Same sun
Same air
Same beginning
Same end…

Annie and Ezra

The Sun Has Come Out

Annie and Ezra’s First Birthday   Your arrival was anticipated With great hope and promise. There were never two babies wanted more than you. You manifested the possibility that good things can happen to good people. Your birth reaffirmed that the Universe can provide If only we can continue to trust.   You didn’t come without trauma. You were snatched from the womb By vigilant and capable Doctors in the nick of time. Your lives Read More

Photo of Traverse City sunset by Rick Bellingham

Strength

Strength is working through, not walking over It means confronting pain, dealing with sadness, living with fear   Strength is expressing feelings, not repressing them It means shedding tears, breaking down, getting it back together   Strength is opening up, not closing down It means being vulnerable, sharing fears, seeking connections   Strength is looking in, not looking out It means finding a place inside that nourishes the soul   Strength is being grateful for Read More

Yosemite National Park | Credit: Erol Ahmed

Attitude

Randomness is. We can’t control the events that happen in life. We can find meaning in what’s not meant to be. There is not always a reason. External causes bombard us from multiple sources. We can only look inward for our own truth. External forces pull us out. There are always compelling reasons to get caught in the flow. We can only shift our attention inward. Internal forces keep us down. We can’t break free Read More

Credit: Pablo Garcia Saldaña | License: CC0

The Questions we Live in

It seems like we are always desperately seeking answers in our life. “If only I could be certain about this,” or “I sure wish I knew the answer to that.” Unfortunately, when the total quantity of information in the world is doubling twice a day, it’s going to be increasingly impossible to keep up with all the “answers” that are literally available at our fingertips. It doesn’t necessarily mean the answers are getting better, they are just Read More

2013 and 2014 Movie Reviews

  Movie Rating Comments 12 Years a Slave 5.0 Very hard to watch.  Absolutely compelling and well-acted.  Must see. Book Thief 5.0 Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush were great.  A moving story of sacrifice, generosity, and bravery.  The horrific story of Jews in Germany between 1938 and 1945. Great Beauty 4.5 Splashes of beauty among the midst of the haggard misery of human life.   My pick for best foreign film. Philomena 4.5 Lots of territory Read More

Photo of glacier by Rick Bellingham

Mailing Gifts by Carl Dennis

I liked this poem because it tells the story of conscious dualism better than the post I wrote about the topic. I hope you enjoy it too. Carl Dennis is an amazing poet.

Credit: John Robert Marasigan

Finding Meaning

“The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe describes well the experience of people who are trying to find meaning while living in the middle.