Archive for August, 2011
075 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Aug.29, 2011, under Weekly Quote
.
.
.
The past is ours no longer, and the future is ours not yet. The present is all we have. Choose to live here and happier you will be.-The Eadarian Poet
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
060 Creative Journey
by Charles on Aug.29, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 60th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Freedom not Chaos
Part 2:
An interesting thing about Chaos is that it only ever arrives through the use of our freedom; or, more appropriately, the misuse of it. The greater and longer the misuse, the greater the chaos we generate. Which is perhaps one of the greatest tragedies known to mankind, the loosing of one’s freedom to his own despotic self.
Who has not known of the one who has surrendered the freedom of rising above their situation to the escape and misery of the bottle? The freedom of growing in relationships to the justifications for explosive anger? The freedom of laughter to the bitterness of self-pity? This blog is not addressing the reasons, or situations that led us to the point of making these choices, to drink excessively, to always be very angry and bear grudges, or to wallow in self pity. It is addressing that the choosing of these is the choosing of chaos and not freedom.
Freedom only comes when we refuse to hide behind such things as the bottle, anger, and pity. This is not the easy way for no defensive walls are put up. Indeed, it is only when we are purposeful and very non-arbitrary in resolving whatever situation we are in, that the strength of freedom, the joy of freedom is earned and known.
The human being is an incredibly complicated critter. And so, before the big and apparent chaotic behaviors (like those listed above) arrive on the scene, there are many smaller occurrences of chaos that have arrived and these have built into the complex ones. And most great truths can be simply applied to all aspects of our lives, if we let them.
So let’s look at some of the smaller ways chaos enters our lives and by which freedom, while not completely dying, is stolen from us bit by bit. Sort of like the frog, when the temperature is gradually turned up on the pot of water he is sitting in, will not feel the temperature change, but will boil to death before he knows what is happening.
As the complex humans we are, we can hold many contradictory views, at the same time, and hold each as fact. Confusing? Yes and, since confusion is not Confucius, it is is a pathway to chaos. And yes, if we are honest with ourselves, most of us hold at least one set of these conflicting ideas.
Some such sets of simple contradictions are as follows: we want to get ahead at work and yet while at work, we want to sit around doing as little as possible, talking, playing games, or texting friends. We want to get ahead, the pay raise, the promotion, and we want to do all the things that lead to us not getting ahead. We want more money and more hours at work to get it, yet we also demand more time off. Or perhaps we want more friends, more social interactions, yet we also want others to show an interest in us first. Or, we want everyone to be courteous to us on the road, yet we feel no desire to give consideration to others while we drive.
I can see you shaking your head and saying, “Ok, now you are just being silly.”
Simple yes, silly… not.
I forget who said this, and if anyone can help with that please let me know for I’d love to give credit where credit is due, but it is said, “You can tell the most about a people by how the handle the little things.” For how you handle the little things will tell/show how you will handle the big things. And there are no approved shortcuts.
So the question is, are we responsible enough to choose the use of purposeful, voluntary, and independent self-decision to handle the little things of life well? To be non-arbitrary or non-despotic in pursuing our dreams, careers, relationships, and growing maturity? That I leave for you to decide. Be honest with your self; you might as well for you cannot trick chaos into being freedom. Chaos is chaos and it always will be. And experiencing the strength of integrity that freedom well lived brings should be missed by no one.
Grow well my friend,
Grow into your freedom well.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
.
.
.
.
.
If you liked this blog entry, check out the shirt designs that support it. Just click here for design ‘Freedom not Chaos’, and here for design ‘Strong Enough to be Free’, at our cafepress store.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
059 Creative Journey
by Charles on Aug.26, 2011, under Creative Journey, Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 59th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Freedom not Chaos
Part 1:
Sometime ago there was a weekly quote here on the Eadarian Network (number 63), “You are only as free as you are responsible enough to be.” This from that wonderful sage and guru, the Eadarian Poet.
This train of thought then led me to another phrase that may well become a future quote of the week: “Freedom not Chaos”.
As I have begun to share this phrase with others, they have immediately thought that I am referring to politics. This I am not. I am only concerned with you and I as individuals. That is something to remember about this bolg, and I only share what I have experienced on my own journey.
So, to ensure understanding of what this post is addressing, I am talking about personal freedom verses personal chaos. Those, which reside in the individual and over which this same individual has control.
So what does all this mean? What does this look like? Let’s start with the thought, “You are only as free as you are responsible enough to be.” And see what develops.
I’m finding that the older dictionaries are quickly becoming my favorites. They seem to have a deeper range of meanings than most modern dictionaries do. In any event…
From the 1913 Webster Dictionary, Freedom: Exemption from necessity – as freedom of will –
From the 1913 Modern English Illustrated Dictionary: Not arbitrary or despotic.
From the 1955 Webster Dictionary: independent, self-deciding, voluntary.
For Chaos (from all the dictionaries): complete confusion or disorder
For Despotic: irresponsible and arbitrary, tyrannical.
So, freedom can be said to be: The responsible use of purposeful, voluntary, and independent self-decision to exercise our will in a non-arbitrary or despotic manner. A matter of the will, a matter of choice.
Chaos can be said to be: Complete confusion and disorder resulting from irresponsible and arbitrary uses of the will. The end results of which are tyrannical in nature stealing away our ability to be truly free. Our ability to exercise free will, to utilize any self-decision is lessened if not taken completely away.
To be continued….
Grow in freedom;
Grow in peace.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
.
.
.
.
.
If you liked this blog entry, check out the shirt designs that support it. Just click here for design ‘Freedom not Chaos’, and here for design ‘Strong Enough to be Free’, at our cafepress store.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
074 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Aug.24, 2011, under Weekly Quote
.
.
.
Conceit: Confidence that has lost its humility.-The Eadarian Poet
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
058 Creative Journey
by Charles on Aug.17, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 58th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
MEEK not mousy:
Part 3.
So back to the issue at hand, being meek without being mousy.
Jesus is often shown as a shining example of meekness. So let’s take a look at some of what he did.
He stood up to demons, without whining or sniveling, drove corrupt merchants from the temple with a whip he fashioned himself, and spoke to thousands of people at a time while on the bank of a lake (five thousand and greater) without so much as a bullhorn, never mind a microphone and speaker system; nothing mousy there.
This hardly fits the retiring, quiet, self-defacing characterizations we think of today when we think of one who is meek.
And finally, (there are many more examples that could be shared, but because we are only looking at the possibility of being meek and not mousy, these are enough to show that this is in fact a possibility and we need to move on) in the book of Second Timothy (in the same Bible as before) chapter 1 verse 7, one of the greatest apostles Christianity has ever known, Paul, wrote to a young man the following. “For God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”
Forgive me, but this does not sound mousy. For God has not given you a mousy spirit, but one of power, love, and discipline… this sounds kind of bold and daring to me… and very meek in nature.
Allow me to quickly draw your attention back to the 1913 Webster’s Dictionary for just a moment more. In this definition is the word: Forbearing. This word caught my attention so I looked it up as well.
It means: Showing patient and unruffled self-control and restraint under adversity.
Wow, self-control. This reminds me of something I heard concerning the word meek. I do not remember where I heard this, nor exactly when I heard it. But, as much as I would love to say otherwise, I did not think of this on my own. Here it is:
Meekness is strength under control.
What an amazing concept.
Well my friends, there is much more that could be said, but I think we have gone on long enough.
Until next time,
Peace,
And may true bold and daring Meekness be yours.
Grow in freedom;
Grow in peace;
Grow in Strength Under Control.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
.
.
.
.
.
If you liked this blog entry, check out the shirt designs based upon it. Just click here for design 1, here for a design 2, here for design 3 at our cafepress store.
And Thank you.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
073 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Aug.15, 2011, under Weekly Quote
.
.
.
Whenever possible, walk in the shade of the trees.-The Eadarian Poet
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
.
057 Creative Journey
by Charles on Aug.15, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 57th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
MEEK not mousy:
Part 2.
A mousy person can be easily provoked, true they may run and hide, but wise men beware of the fearful and the mousy because there is no logic, no telling when or how, behind the times they choose to explode and reek havoc on those around. Mousy people can seem patient under injuries because they fear to express what they feel, their anger and their hurt, but these do not get vented and do not go away. And, as with anything which is suppressed, the pressure of holding it in builds until an explosion happens. Hurting many more people than the mousy person ever meant to harm and perhaps even more severly than intended.
And the mousy can be very vain, haughty, and resentful. Arrogance no matter the reason for it is still arrogance. And even the most mousy of persons (as strange as this may sound) can become arrogant concerning their level of mousy-ness.
Their vainness / haughtiness comes from just how not arrogant and boastful they feel they are. They become vain about their mousy-ness and very resentful of all who are not as mousy as they, or who they perceive as not being “meek” enough.
I’m not saying… no, I am saying that while someone who could be described as mousy can be meek, they may just be mousy. And more importantly, that someone who is meek need not be mousy. That being mousy and meekness are two different things.
To further this thought I turned to a text, other than the dictionaries, which most of us in the western world quickly bring to mind when we hear the word meek. This of coarse being the text known as The Sermon on the Mount, or sometimes referred to as The Beatitudes.
Regardless of your religious or nonreligious beliefs, (For this is only a foray into what possibilities exist for a meek person to also be a bold and daring one; a non-mousy one.) this text will prove most helpful in expounding on meanings to meekness.
This text comes from the book of Matthew chapter 5, verse 5. “Blessed are the meek…” Was this really saying, “Blessed are the mousy, the deficient in spirit and courage, the spineless…”?
I have found some very interesting information while researching this. The first of which comes from Webster’s 1913 Dictionary. As mentioned earlier, this definition was: Mild of temper, not easily provoked; patient under injuries; not vain, haughty, or resentful; forbearing, submissive. ~ Moses was very meek. Num. 12:3.
Besides the fact that a dictionary used a Biblical example for illustrating it’s definition, which in this day and time is… intriguing; it highlighted a Biblical use of meek that can shed light on the usage of it in Matthew.
Moses – a very meek person – was the leader of a young nation, one breaking free from hundreds of years of slavery to one of the most powerful nations of that day. Standing up to the Pharaoh, the one who all Egyptians, including the Pharaoh, considered a god, took something more than a “deficiency in courage”.
This man led the nation and kept them together for over forty years – ruling, judging, teaching, guiding, and establishing a governing system. Overcoming fears, complaints, revolts, and much more all the while sojourning through a desert. This hardly aligns itself with the image of a mousy, spiritless coward. Yes there is the whole aspect of God helping Moses, leading Moses, giving him the strength to do what had to be done, and we may or may not touch more on this later, for I have learned that meekness in the Bible has to do with an attitude toward God, but at present, that is beyond the scope of this blog. Though I will mention, it is worth noting that there are many who will confirm that letting go and letting God takes tremendous courage and some daring, what some will call faith (also, that courage and strength may not be evident in how we feel while letting go, and the courage to proceed very often means proceeding even while we still know fear concerning the progression.). Now, if I’m not careful I’ll digress and veer away from our current topic; for the concept of courage in the face of our fears is a lengthy topic all its own.
To be continued…..
Grow in peace my friends,
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you liked this blog entry, check out the shirt designs based upon it. Just click here to be taken to the first design for this bolg at our CafePress store. Or click here for a second design based on this bolg posting.
And Thank you.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
056 Creative Journey
by Charles on Aug.13, 2011, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 56th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
MEEK not mousy:
Part 1.
As I was preparing for this blog entry, I researched the word Meek using several sources and doing so both online and offline. Trying to determine if one could indeed be meek and not mousy.
Here is what I found.
In modern dictionaries, I did indeed find mousy – the exact words being, “deficient in spirit and courage”, with a quote from poet Langston Hughes as an illustration, “meek as a mouse.” – to be one of the proper meanings for this word. But I also found something else that was both intriguing and supportive of my assertion.
Older dictionaries, I have a Webster’s Illustrated Dictionary from 1955 and a The New English Modern Illustrated Dictionary published in 1913 in my office. And I found the Webster’s Dictionary from 1913 online. All of these older dictionaries do not list this lack of spirit or courage (nor do they use any quote similar to the one later used from poet Langston Hughes as an illustration) as a meaning for meek. Indeed, the definitions found here actually help make the case for a bold, daring, and meek individual.
To keep this from being a dry presentation of mere definitions, I will limit the sharing of them to two definitions, one each from the 1913 dictionaries.
From: The New English Modern Illustrated Dictionary
Meek: gentle, mild of temper, yielding, submissive.
From: Webster’s 1913 Dictionary
Meek: mild of temper; not easily provoked; patient under injuries; not vain, haughty, or resentful; forbearing, submissive. – Moses was very meek. Numbers 12:3
Yes, the reference to Moses and the Bible is listed in this dictionary as an illustration for meek.
Not easily provoked, mild of temper… so not a hot head, a loose cannon bringing destruction wherever he turns himself loose.
Patient under injuries… how easy it is to simply strike back at the source of those injuries, to demand immediate restitution and healing from injuries (both personal and physical), there is strength in restraint.
Not vain, haughty, or resentful. Arrogance can and does wear many masks. The meek is not arrogant, again this takes poise and strength and courage. It is too easy to become arrogant.
To be continued…
Grow in peace my friends,
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you liked this blog entry, check out the shirt designs based upon it. Just click here to be taken to our CafePress store, and thank you.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
072 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Aug.08, 2011, under Weekly Quote
.
.
.
You can tame a dog, you cannot tame life.-The Eadarian Poet
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
.
071 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Aug.03, 2011, under Weekly Quote
.
.
.
Not forgotten, but not remembered.-The Eadarian Poet
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
.
-
Worth Quoting
Never be so libelous as to call a man perfect; once a person is so labeled it is too easy to tear him apart for being what he is, a human being.
Contributions and Flow Enablement
The 5 Most Recent Comments