®   Volume 22, # 1 .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 2006

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Write Things Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bits & Pieces, April 1979,  p. 13

    "Sooner or later busy people learn to write things down. It’s the best way to capture things we are apt to forget. ‘The strongest memory,’ says an old Chinese proverb, ‘is weaker than the palest ink.’"

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Renaissance of Wonder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Merrill Root, Positive Press

    "We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle and magic."

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All Men Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

   "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible."

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Achieving Knowledge . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Hilton, "The Future for Higher Education: Sunrise or Perfect Storm?"
                                                                 EDUCAUSE Review, March-April, 2006, p. 4.

    "…[T]he library and the professor’s lecture are both remembered primarily for their value as information gateways. The students gained access to information through the library or the words of the professor. The problem is that if someone asks me what I want to achieve in my classes, it is not to provide access to information. I want to provide access to knowledge. The difference between information and knowledge is subtle but important. Knowledge is what you do with information. Knowledge is how you make meaning out of information. And, usually, you gain knowledge through an interactive process—by interacting with someone or by doing some critical analysis or further exploration of the information. Achieving knowledge requires a much richer and more complicated environment than that required for accessing information."

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On Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reinhold Niebuhr, The Practical Cogitator, p. 431

    "Man is the kind of creature who cannot be whole except he be committed, because he cannot find himself without finding a center beyond himself. In short the emancipation of the self requires commitment."

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Hear the Right Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ralph Waldo Emerson

    "The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right word."

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On Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Dominian, THE PRIEST, Sept. 1991, p. 55

    "Humility is a clear awareness of our limitations, the openness to learning, correction and change, the desire to serve rather than pontificate, coupled with a realization of our significance which is neither exaggerated nor undervalued. Humility is not a denial of our worth or integrity, nor an apology for our existence."

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Pain Others Bear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIVING FAITH, Sept. 11, 1992

"At a recent conference, the speaker reminded the audience, ‘If you really knew and understood the pain others bear, your compassion would lead you to tears most of your life.’"

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Stories Communicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernest Kurtz, The Spirituality of Imperfection, p. 17

    "Stories are the vehicle that moves metaphor and image into experience. Like metaphors and images, stories communicate what is generally invisible and ultimately inexpressible. In seeking to understand these realities through time, stories provide a perspective that touches on the divine, allowing us to see reality in full context, as part of its larger whole. Stories invite a kind of vision that gives shape and form even to the invisible, making the images move, clothing the metaphors, throwing color into the shadows. Of all the devices available to us, stories are the surest way of touching the human spirit."

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Affirmative Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward

    "Negative thinking dwells on limitations and impossibilities; affirmative thinking focuses on capabilities and potentialities."

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Repeated Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Rohn, Treasury of Quotes, p. 26

    "Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure."

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A Worthwhile Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfons Klein, SJ, Funeral Sermon for Karl Rahner, SJ

    "What was most important in life for Karl Rahner, and most fundamental? He answered that question himself in these words: ‘If in my life I have done a little bit to help a few people to dare address God, to think of Him, to believe in Him, to hope and to love—then, I think my life has been worthwhile.’"

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Eagerness to Learn . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . John Carmody, The Progressive Pilgrim

    "Education is the process through which meaning and faith can develop. There is precious education in the solitary treks we make through confusion, suffering and unexpected joy.

    The roots of studenthood are an eagerness to learn. Education is just the examined life, the ascent to the Mystery through the investigation of mysterious things in nature, society and one’s self.

    If one is to study, one has to discipline imagination, purify attention."

 

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Need of Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morris West, Lazarus, p. 175

"Creative ignorance!…Because we are in darkness, we cry for light. Because we are lonely, we yearn for love…I have great need of light. I envy your starwalkers. It must be easy to pray up there."

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Architecture for Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, TOR

"In life, the higher you want to go,
the deeper you must dig your foundation."

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Each Step You Take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Source Unknown

    An Indian guide, who displayed uncanny skills in navigating the rugged regions of the Southwest, was asked how he did it. "What’s your secret of being an expert tracker and trail blazer?" a visitor asked him.

    The guide answered, "There’s no secret. One must only possess the far vision and the near look. The first step is to determine where you want to go; then you must be sure that each step you take is a step in that direction."

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Do the Right Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Josephson, Character Counts

    A father asked his son to return a shopping cart they had just used. The son protested, "C’mon, Dad! There are carts all over. No one returns them. That’s why they hire people to collect them."

    After a brief argument, Mom chimed in, "For heaven’s sake, it’s no big deal. Let’s go."

    The Dad was about to surrender when he noticed an elderly couple walking together to return their cart. After a moment he said, "Son, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who put their carts away and those who don’t. We are the kind that returns their shopping cart. Now go return the cart!"

    Obviously, this story is about more than grocery carts. It’s about doing the right thing in a world that promotes rationalizations and excuses, and demeans or trivializes simple acts of virtue. I suppose another way of putting it is—There two kinds of people: Those who have the character to do what they ought to and those who find reasons not to.

    People of character do the right thing even if no one else does, not because they think it will change the world, but because they refuse to be changed by the world.

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