Saturday, November 12, 2016

The easy thing is to be silenced because you don't want the insults. The easy thing is to look the other way when it's happening to others.-- JK Rowling

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

We must live and work together as brothers [and sisters] or perish together as fools.  --Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawkes of Cornwall, 15th Century Knight
Be the person that makes others feel special. Be known for your kindness and grace.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

“Tonight,” Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawkes of Cornwall begins, “I will share with you some of the more valuable stories, events, and moments of my life so that somewhere deep in the recesses of your imagination these lessons might continue on and my experiences will live to serve a purpose for you.”

20 Rules for a Knight

1. Solitude
Create time alone with yourself. When seeking the wisdom and clarity of your own mind, silence is a helpful tool. The voice of our spirit is gentle and cannot be heard when it has to compete with others. Just as it is impossible to see your reflection in troubled water, so too is it with the soul. In silence, we can sense eternity sleeping inside us.
2. Humility
Never announce that you are a knight, simply behave as one. You are better than no one, and no one is better than you.
3. Gratitude
The only intelligent response to the ongoing gift of life is gratitude. For all that has been, a knight says, “Thank you.” For all that is to come, a knight says, “Yes!”
4. Pride
Never pretend you are not a knight or attempt to diminish yourself because you deem it will make others more comfortable. We show others the most respect by offering the best of ourselves.
5. Cooperation
Each one of us is walking our own road. We are born at specific times, in specific places, and our challenges are unique. As knights, understanding and respecting our distinctiveness is vital to our ability to harness our collective strength. The use of force may be necessary to protect in an emergency, but only justice, fairness, and cooperation can truly succeed in leading men. We must live and work together as brothers or perish together as fools.
6. Friendship
The quality of your life will, to a large extent, be decided by with whom you elect to spend your time.
7. Forgiveness
Those who cannot easily forgive will not collect many friends. Look for the best in others.
8. Honesty
A dishonest tongue and a dishonest mind waste time, and therefore waste our lives. We are here to grow and the truth is the water, the light, and the soil from which we rise. The armor of falsehood is subtly wrought out of the darkness and hides us not only from others but from our own soul.
9. Courage
Anything that gives light must endure burning.
10. Grace
Grace is the ability to accept change. Be open and supple; the brittle break.
11. Patience
There is no such thing as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A hurried mind is an addled mind; it cannot see clearly or hear precisely; it sees what it wants to see, or hears what it is afraid to hear, and misses much. A knight makes time his ally. There is a moment for action, and with a clear mind that moment is obvious.
12. Justice
There is only one thing for which a knight has no patience: injustice. Every true knight fights for human dignity at all times.
13. Generosity
You were born owning nothing and with nothing you will pass out of this life. Be frugal and you can be generous.
14. Discipline
In the field of battle, as in all things, you will perform as you practice. With practice, you build the road to accomplish your goals. Excellence lives in attention to detail. Give your all, all the time. Don’t save anything for the walk home.The better a knight prepares, the less willing he will be to surrender.
15. Dedication
Ordinary effort, ordinary result. Take steps each day to better follow these rules. Luck is the residue of design. Be steadfast. The anvil outlasts the hammer.
16. Speech
Do not speak ill of others. A knight does not spread news that he does not know to be certain, or condemn things that he does not understand.
17. Faith
Sometimes to understand more, you need to know less.
18. Equality
Every knight holds human equality as an unwavering truth. A knight is never present when men or women are being degraded or compromised in any way, because if a knight were present, those committing the hurtful acts or words would be made to stop.
19. Love
Love is the end goal. It is the music of our lives. There is no obstacle that enough love cannot move.
20. Death
Life is a long series of farewells; only the circumstances should surprise us. A knight concerns himself with gratitude for the life he has been given. He does not fear death, for the work one knight begins, others may finish.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Benevolent & Omnipotent Gods

“The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are able and willing.
“If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can but will not, then they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent.
“Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, why does it exist?”
—Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.)

Wednesday, January 6, 2016