Referring to the passage on page 73 of Meetings with Remarkable Men
“Objective morality …is established by life and by the commandments given us by the Lord God Himself through His prophets, and it gradually becomes the basis for the formation in man of what is called conscience. And it is by this conscience that objective morality, in its turn, is maintained. Objective morality never changes, it can only broaden in the course of time. As for subjective morality, it is invented by man and is therefore a relative conception, differing for different people and different places and depending upon the particular understanding of good and evil prevailing in the given period.â€
Question for discussion: What can we know of conscience, and how does it maintain objective morality?
…. Woke up today, and to my surprise, for the next year I'll be admitting that i'm 28 years old to anyone who asks. Sheesh! Seems like a big deal all of a sudden.
Where have I been for the past 3 months? In the groove I guess, putting traction down into my trajectory. Seeking to infuse body, mind and spirit in all things. Living in New York these past 16 months has been quite a ride. Feels nice to have a sense of “arrival” somewhere, like a belong here, full-welling knowing I want to stay and grow…and each day I'm making modest commitments to maintaining all of the plates i have in the air. The capacity for humans to “do” is a limit I hope i never reach. Right now, i find myself walking many avenues at once… but that's the New York Way right? Maybe its just the Aaron Bell way… but for the first time, i'm feeling residual wisdom emerging from the 28 years of the life i've lived to date, and its telling me that there are things to be done, and morever, that I “can do!” That old adage of “know thyself” is becoming more and more clear. Not that I know myself through-and-through already, but I am beginning to cement my “style” for living… No matter what i tell myself, there are tenants of pace and ambition that have characterized my years over and over again, whether I admit them or not. I've certainly maintained a tradition for many of my behaviors, and if I don't take the time to prune the good from the bad, next thing i know, I'll be old and unchanged. (for the record, I'm still a young twenty-something, people!).
So, going forward, no longer should i feel content to talk the talk of inner change. Regret & dismay are no useful tools if I only talk about it the want to “change” or to “grow”. Real effort is required. Real focus. I can be a man of compassion. I can be a man of presence. I can be man who loves and shares his one and only gift…. Attention.
That's right folks. “Attention” is a gift. What you do with it is your destiny. Who you give it to is the web of relation we weave. Ahhh… to be young again. Wait a minute,… aren't I? ;)
….so, again, where I have been for 3 mos? I know it hasn't been just going with the flow. there have been very honest moments of reflection in there. There have been real moments of grappling. Sincere moments of feeling the body in motion, and of pure emotion at work in me, of intellect compounding with intensity. There have been ups and downs, but its the downs that interest me most. The times where I let myself down, where I make promises i don't fulfill to satisfaction, or when I don't take advantage to put my best foot forward when opportunity presents itself. When I fail to be my best self its beginning to feel less of a mild bummer, and more of a wound, a deep remorse of conscience, felt throughout my being. This quality i've identified in me will be my point of departure into this birthday season.
“Straight ahead and strive for tone.” - Paul Desmond
The task of the writer is to bring forth a voice, to convey a sound. On the outside it is simply another form of expression —like painting a picture, carving a sculpture, performing theatre or playing an instrument. The artist in this case plays on meter, on cacophony, on euphany, on analogy. On another level, it is a discipline, demanding patience if one is to be satisfied with the outcome; and yet, maybe satisfaction is not the point. The discipline though is in funneling the richness and vastness of one's experience through the intellectual center and to strike accord in the reader. Our challenge at the innermost level is to produce in language an echo of what is indescribable. This is a confrontation of what one “knows.”
Help my good friend is necessary! Man, alone and naked, is born unto this Earth in limitation. There are rocks we cannot lift, heights we cannot surmount, widths we cannot circumvent… without help! Authentic help furthers one's reach in capacity; it is a collection of efforts that deliver extra-ordinary results. The need for help is honest. Our ability to provide help and our availability to receive it is our compass for community.
Without question a most difficult concept for me. Oddly, there is an underwhelming sensation of shame when I pray…. with others particularly; so much so that for many years I thought not to pray all together. The impulse, the aversion is so subtle, and my reaction so non-chalant, that I realize now how unavailable I have been to its import. When I explore this shame that I feel, I know there is inherently a reverence simultaneously for prayer; I can admit that prayer is a sacred gesture. For so long I was unsure of my understanding of God (still am to a degree) but consequently arose my uncertainty of prayer. When I think of the nature of prayer, I see how it is the unification of one's actions with one's aim. It is a returning to oneself. The result: a wish inward, outward or upward.
Bell.tron's Barber Shop… make an appointment: Here
The Shop is open, …and the fellas will be lookin' good!
Come any night on the schedule above… plan for an hour in the chair, good jamz, …
and feel free to just come by and kick it with the homies, maybe sip on somethin' from
the Barber Shop Liquor Cabinet.
$5 for the best I can do, no tips. Money-back guarantee if unsatisfied. I got all the tools.
Please use the site (above) to see availability, then update your info, and be sure NOT to double book.
The Undaground Sound era begins! …
PS: if we need to schedule something outside of the listed availability, or
you need a spot that's already booked, give me a call. We'll work it out: 917.589.3486
In the words of Cheng Zu:
If it is good, I good it.
If it is bad, i good it too.