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Showing posts from July, 2017

A Legacy from the Great War

NOTE : I wrote this back in 2015, but this year, the 100th memorial year,  I think is a good time to give it another airing. A Legacy from the Great War. (WW1) I was watching a television trailer, regarding a forthcoming documentary, examining the life of those who lived and fought from the trenches. I was struck by the number of film clips taken on the front line. That so many have survived for the past one hundred years is quite amazing, considering the ease of degradation of the materials used. I had not previously considered such an archive of moving images existed, considering movie making was still in its infancy at the time. Seeing these short monochrome ( mostly, although a few colour films were produced ), films of men going about their daily lives on the front line, brought the characters of those captured on cellulose to life in a way I did not think possible. In conjunction with this footage was often clear and exceptional commentary. Sev

What a Zen Monk taught me about Time.

I had to share this post in full. Read it and you will know why, Paul.                                                                                            Fi rst posted on               https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/07/what-shunryu-suzuki-taught-me-about-time Via  Jim Owens on Jul 16, 2017     533 Shares get elephant's newsletter Shunryū Suzuki , was a master of many things, not the least of which were meditation and calligraphy. His teaching—sometimes simple, sometimes confusing, but always profound—has influenced me greatly. I have also admired the work of other remarkable men and women: the Nobel Peace Prize winning,  Thich Nhất   Hanh , the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, and the Buddhist nun,  Pema Chödron . In short, I walk in the shade of trees planted by those who came long before me. The trees planted by Suzuki have borne fruit in ways I could not have expected. None more so than the phrase,  “Do not say too late . “  It’s said to hav